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Summer School and Project-Based Learning

by Bracken Reed

Healy, Alaska, is on the northeast corner of Denali National Park, surrounded by rugged and beautiful wilderness. It is also a region known for its ancient and still-thriving Native cultures. At Tri-Valley School in Healy, technology teacher Sheila Craig has found a way to tap her students’ curiosity about their rich culture.

For ten weeks, her middle school students use modern technology to learn about an ancient tradition: animal spirit masks. Students research animal symbolism on the Internet, use computer graphics programs to design three-dimensional masks, and transfer their designs into plaster. Along the way, they document the process in journals, essays, and digital movies, and conclude their projects with a presentation of their masks and documentary materials to their fellow students.

Not too far away (in Alaska terms), middle school students in the Juneau School District learn about math and science from two different perspectives: a modern scientific approach taught with the help of local scientists, and traditional ways of knowing taught by Tlingit elders. At Camp W.A.T.E.R., a summer math/science camp run by the district in partnership with L’Koot Kwaan-Chilkoot Culture Camp, students use modern technology to collect and analyze data, track their investigations, and make presentations.

These two programs exemplify many of the strategies outlined in the two latest installments of the popular By Request series: Project-Based Instruction: Creating Excitement for Learning and Summer School Programs: A Look at the Research, Implications for Practice, and Program Sampler.

Often, projects are isolated add-ons in traditional classrooms, notes Project-Based Instruction author Jennifer Railsback, but project-based learning is different. As "an authentic instructional model or strategy in which students plan, implement, and evaluate projects that have real-world applications beyond the classroom," it is a process that can fit seamlessly within a schools’ larger curricula and can be applied to many different situations.

Project-based learning is central to many summer school programs, writes Railsback, who coauthored Summer School Programs with writer Suzie Boss. As an interdisciplinary, cooperative learning strategy, projects can accommodate different learning preferences, ability levels, and cultural backgrounds. Both of these publications will help educators wade through current research to find the most effective strategies for today’s diverse classrooms.

To request free copies of these By Request booklets, phone 503-275-9720 or e-mail info@nwrel.org. The booklets are also available on the Laboratory Web site at www.nwrel.org/request/.