Essential Elements of PBL Fall 2021 v.

*Purple font indicates point was met*

1. Clear and focused objectives learned through the project

The Project includes standards and objectives in lesson plan

● State and/or effectively communicate objectives to students (vocabulary, concepts etc.)
● Relate standards to topic/unit/real-world problem

The Project makes objective clear when students are providing peer feedback and self-reflecting

The Project teaches content “through” the project (as opposed to “pre-teaching” the content and then allowing students to
work on the project)

The Project ensures students follow objectives throughout the unit when creating their project
● Each activity is clearly related to the objective(s)
● Multiple check-ins with students

The Project builds literacy through the work

● The project will allow for students to engage in research and literacy/writing skills (pg. 66).

2. A powerful and meaningful project that inspires students…

The project allows students to contribute their own individual abilities and unique perspectives cultivated from different
cultures (5).

The Project provides students with models of the content and the concepts they interact with along the way (pg 83)

The Project is made public in some way (p 100)

3. A Sense of Community

The Project interacts with the greater community

● involve members of the community who have skill sets that are being taught (eg. Architects, etc). (56, 96)
● Mixed-age interactions (135)
● Making the work public (98-101)
● Involving the community in the process of creating the product
● Consulting outside experts/guest speakers from community coming into class
● Field trips (bringing class into the community)

Project allows the students to have the opportunity to build community in the classroom itself by working with classmates to
achieve a larger goal.
● Project will allow students to collaborate with one another with each individual contributing their own skills that
they are “remarkably good at” while “bring[ing] out the best in [the] kids” (5).

The Project allows time for celebration of hard work (21-23)

● Students are encouraged to strive for perfection and take pride in their work because of the culture of the
classroom with their peers. (p 36)

4. A Culture of Craftsmanship; a classroom culture that encourages excellent and high quality work

GTCH 3103 Project-Based Learning 1 of 2

 Essential Elements of PBL Fall 2021 v.1

The Project includes assessment rubrics and checkpoints to set expectations and help students not fall behind (70)

The Teacher provides mentorship/apprenticeship for students (133)

● Not just “doing school”; trying to achieve a goal
● Focus on the student/student goals for the project
● Feedback >>>>>>> evaluation
● Learning skills from relative experts
● Access to authentic tools/materials that experts use and specific instruction in how to use those tools/materials

The Project uses models to inspire students (83-87)

The Project allows students to participate in formal and informal critiques of each others works and abide by the three rules
of critiques: "Be Kind", "Be Helpful" and "Be Specific" (pg 93)
● Open and honest peer critique and self-reflection

The Project allows students to see their improvements over the multiple drafts/revisions based on teacher and student
feedback/critiques (87)

The Project showcases student work to the public and emphasizes the quality of their work (pg 98)
● Taking pride in one’s own work (63-72)
● Showing care for each other’s work (105)

Total Score: 16/20

GTCH 3103 Project-Based Learning 2 of 2