The Creative Educator magazine is running first of a two-part article on project- based learning by Gary Stager and illustrated by Peter Reynolds.
What Makes a Good Project? covers eight elements of projects that make them worth doing:
- Purpose and relevance
- Sufficient time
- Complexity
- Intensity
- Connected to others
- Access to materials
- Shareable
- Novelty
Stager concludes with questions teachers can ask themselves to improve the design of project-based learning experiences for students.
Project-based learning does take extra work to design and implement, but the results are worth it for everyone involved. So if you make the effort, it’s worth doing it right. As Stager says, “Making things is better than being passive, but making good things is even better!”
Update – Part 2 of this article is now online! Part 2: What Makes a Good Project
Thank you for finding this and posting the link. Much appreciated.
Thanks for pointing me to this resource… I mentioned this post wayyyy toward the end of this post: http://nashworld.edublogs.org/2008/11/16/how-do-you-spell-constructivism/
It seems that what started out as me trying to point to that document, turned into a bit more of a reflective piece.
😉
Sean