The Big Learning Challenge 2019: Planting the seeds of project-based learning

G. FAITH LITTLE
Initiative Director, 21st Century Learning

In January, we invited teachers across the city to the third annual Big Learning Challenge: a conference that focuses on the power of project-based learning. Participants previewed innovative workshops, practiced new instructional strategies, and made connections with other teachers by creating original projects, reflecting on their project-making process, and applying it to their own classrooms.
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Each year, teachers glow at the end of the day as they present their work, having engaged with the topic, developed a project vitally connected to their content area, and created everything from scratch. This is fantastic!

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson

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​Who wouldn’t have a great time spending a day in their content area of choice, making cool stuff? The Big Learning Challenge design invites teachers further into the field of play, where they consider how the project-making process can become a reality in their classroom. At every stage, from planning to presentation, teachers pause for written reflection:

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After experiencing projects aligned to guiding questions and classroom connections, teachers gathered together to share their projects during the final session's gallery walk. Teachers walked away with not only a satisfying experience, but also self-identified next steps to implementing project-based learning in their classrooms.

Modeling in Mathematics

Moving Images
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Narrative storytelling
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Scientific experiments
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Visual and creative arts
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Modeling in Mathematics

PROJECT

• Design your own seed

GUIDING QUESTION(S)

• What patterns are formed in seeds and biological growth?
• What mathematical ideas are related to seeds and biological growth?
• What is mathematical modeling?

CONNECTIONS TO THE CLASSROOM
Teachers will be able to take this to their classroom in two ways. First, teachers can find inspiration from the open-ended nature of the project, and take into their classroom the PBL-style activities that ask students to be part of creating. Asking students to be creators can be an important way of including them in the learning process, whether that’s with a project about seeds, or something else.

Second, teachers can find inspiration in the project’s mathematical ideas discussed in relation to seeds. What they might take to their classroom are some interesting ways to enliven the teaching and learning of specific topics – such as ratios and proportions, symmetries, counting, relations, etc.

Moving Images
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PROJECT

• Create a stop motion film

GUIDING QUESTION(S)

• What comes out of a seed?

CONNECTIONS TO THE CLASSROOM
A stop motion film can be used as a visual report in any subject. For example, students might create a stop motion clip to do the following:

• Create a campaign against smoking
• Illustrate the causes of the French Revolution/Civil War
• Show the water cycle

Narrative storytelling
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PROJECT

• Build a Choose Your Own Adventure PPT

GUIDING QUESTION(S)

• What happens when students consider their learning as an adventure?

CONNECTIONS TO THE CLASSROOM
The process of creating a Choose Your Own Adventure text (PPT, writing, visual) pushes students to consider “what happens if…” and enriches their experience of learning across content areas. The creation of the text deepens learning, and the sharing of the final projects across the classroom allows other students to benefit from the knowledge and inspiration of their fellow classmates. ​

Scientific experiments
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PROJECT

• Design and build your own hydroponic system to grow lettuce seeds

GUIDING QUESTION(S)

• How can produce be grown in areas with limited access to space and resources?

CONNECTIONS TO THE CLASSROOM
This integrated project involves reading, writing, speaking and listening, Science content, and engineering standards. Once the hydroponic systems are set up, Math standards can be incorporated by measuring plants and graphing trends over time. Though background building and creating the hydroponic systems is a bit time consuming, once this stage is completed, the project only requires approximately 15 minutes per day. ​

Visual and creative arts
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PROJECT

• Create a visual poem using tamarind as inspiration

GUIDING QUESTION(S)

• How can students see themselves as seeds for their work?
• How do students know what they're reading?
• How can they analyze texts not only for genre and content, but to create texts within the genre as well?

CONNECTIONS TO THE CLASSROOM
Visual expression of poetry can be used in the classroom to offer a way for students to share what they know and can do. The process of creating a visual representation taps into several 21st century skills and connects with standards in a variety of classroom content areas.