20 Examples Of Project-Based Learning For A Modern World

1. Planning a garden that meets specific design objectives, then plant and tend
the garden. At the end of the growing season, iterate the design to improve it for
the next season based on how the garden was or was not successful in meeting
the objectives.

2. Launching a recycling program that solves an identified problem with existing

recycling programs. This can be done at a household-level, school-level,
neighborhood-level, or city-level.

3. Analyzing the five most popular social media platforms for teens, then predict
and design a new platform based on existing trends and past trajectory of
change.

4. Creating ‘visibility’ for something beautiful, useful, or otherwise deserving of

attention that currently is under-appreciated (e.g., music, parks, people, acts of
kindness, effort, movies, nature, etc.)

5. Mashing three existing video games together (i.e., the core ideas in those
games) to create a new game. Obviously this wouldn’t be done digitally but
through annotaed planning and ‘blueprint’ design.

6. Solving the problem of negative and/or ‘fake news.’

7. Designing a new form of government (or democracy, specifically) that

addresses some perceived shortcoming of existing democratic forms
(partisanship, non-functioning checks-and-balances, etc.)

8. Helping local businesses increase environmental sustainability (e.g., reduce

waste).

9. Creating an interactive family tree with voice-overs from living family members.

10. Documenting the ‘important’ stories from your family (immediate or

extended), focusing on older generations first. Help your family tell their story by
telling all of their individual stories, then come up with a way to ‘publish’ that
story (likely only sharing it with the family itself).
11. Inventorying the world’s most compelling ideas in an elegant and browsable
interface.

12. Imagining a dating app in 2050 considering anticipated shifts in technology

(e.g., biotechnology) and social norms (e.g., gender, sexuality, class, etc.)

13. Identifying, analyzing, and visualizing recurring themes in human history; then
contextualize those themes in modern society.

14. Choosing an issue you claim to be ‘important’ to you, then somehow

addressing or supporting that issue with real-world work. Afterwards,
documenting the learning process and what you learned and how that might
change your approach next time.

15. With current trends in climate change in mind, one example of project-based
learning might be to design a modern city for the year 2100 (clean-sheet design),
or re-imagine existing cities and how they might cope with climate change.

16. Capturing, documenting, and sharing the wisdom of people living in nursing
homes. Alternative: Interpreting very narrow and specific expertise for real-world
application. For example, take knowledge of robotics or astrophysics or
agriculture or music or theater, then somehow ‘apply’ that expertise in an
authentic and real-world setting.

17. Dissecting the ‘anatomy’ of viral web content, memes, or social media
arguments.

18. Launching a profitable business with actual documentation of real-world

business metrics: profit, loss, cost control, etc. (depending on the nature of the
product, service, or platform).

19. Artfully illustrating the global history of human/civil rights for the last 2000
years in one image, visual, or artifact.

20. Creating a photo documentary, then turning that into a film documentary,
then turning that into a series of short social media videos.

Bonus: Restore something broken or beautiful.