Implementing Project-based Instruction | By Request...August 2002 |

Essentials for Structuring Projects Effectively

Projects come from different sources and develop in different ways. There is no one correct way to implement a project, but there are some questions and things to consider when designing effective projects (Edwards, 2000; Jobs for the Future, n.d.)

Outlining Project Goals

It is very important for everyone involved to be clear about the goals so that the project is planned and completed effectively. The teacher and the student should develop an outline that explains the project’s essential elements and expectations for each project. Although the outline can take various forms, it should contain the following elements (Bottoms & Webb, 1998):

Situation or problem: A sentence or two describing the issue or problem that the project is trying to address. Example: Homes and businesses in a lake watershed affect the lake’s phosphorus content, which reduces the lake’s water quality. How can businesses and homeowners improve the quality of the lake water?
Project description and purpose: A concise explanation of the project’s ultimate purpose and how it addresses the situation or problem. Example: Students will research, conduct surveys, and make recommendations on how businesses and homeowners can reduce phosphorus content in lakes. Results will be presented in a newsletter, information brochure, community fair, or Web site.
Performance specifications: A list of criteria or quality standards the project must meet.
Rules: Guidelines for carrying out the project. Include timeline and short-term goals, such as: Have interviews completed by a certain date, have research completed by a certain date.
List of project participants with roles assigned: Include project teammates, community members, school staff members, and parents
Assessment: How the student’s performance will be evaluated. In project-based learning, the learning process is being evaluated as well as the final product.

The outline is crucial to the project’s success—teachers and students should develop this together. The more involved the students are in the process, the more they will retain and take responsibility for their own learning (Bottoms & Webb, 1998).

Identify Learning Goals and Objectives

Before the project is started, teachers should identify the specific skills or concepts that the student will learn, form clear academic goals, and map out how the goals tie into school, state, and/or national standards.

Herman, Aschbacher, and Winters (1992) have identified five questions to consider when determining learning goals:

What important cognitive skills do I want my students to develop? (e.g., to use algebra to solve everyday problems, to write persuasively). Use state or district standards as a guide.
What social and affective skills do I want my students to develop? (e.g., develop teamwork skills).
What metacognitive skills do I want my students to develop? (e.g., reflect on the research process they use, evaluate its effectiveness, and determine methods of improvement).
What types of problems do I want my students to be able to solve? (e.g., know how to do research, apply the scientific method).
What concepts and principles do I want my students to be able to apply? (e.g., apply basic principles of ecology and conservation in their lives, understand cause-and-effect relationships).

Be as specific as possible in determining outcomes so that both the student and the teacher understand exactly what is to be learned.

Other things that teachers and students need to consider:

Do the students have easy access to the resources they need? This is especially important if a student is using specific technology or subject-matter expertise from the community.
Do the students know how to use the resources? Students who have minimal experience with computers, for example, may need extra assistance in utilizing them.
Do the students have mentors or coaches to support them in their work? This can be in-school or out-of-school mentors.
Are students clear on the roles and responsibilities of each person in a group?

Cross Curriculum Project Planning

Many projects can involve teachers from several subject areas. Cross-curriculum projects allow students to see how knowledge and skills are connected in the workplace (Bottoms & Webb, 1998). These projects require advance planning and teamwork among teachers, but can be well worth it.

The principal plays a key role in the success of across-the-curriculum projects. If teachers are given the resources and time to develop such projects and have the enthusiasm and backing of the principal, they will feel freer to launch into projects.

Here are some ideas for successful cross-curriculum project planning:

Start early. Staff members might need to spend more staff development time in the summer to plan adequately for complex projects.
Be clear about alignment of content to standards. Teachers could map out what concepts each teacher plans to teach month by month, so that teachers can see overlap in different classes and can identify what content will be covered to ensure that the students learn a concept necessary for a project. Teachers can see clearly how working together on a project will tie in with their curriculum goals (Bottoms & Webb, 1998).
Schedule time for students in different classes to work on projects together. If this isn’t possible during the day, teachers may find that as students get more involved and excited about working on projects, they are more willing to come in before or after school to meet with other students.

Project Ideas

There are many types of effective projects. Some projects can address a specific community or school need, transform existing work experiences or jobs into projects, or develop a project based on classroom curriculum (Dickinson, et al., 1998; Martin & Baker, 2000). Other projects can focus on career research (Bottoms & Webb, 1998).

Here are some ideas for projects:

Design a living history museum or recreate an historical event.
Design and plan a community garden.
Develop a newsletter or Web site on a specific issue relevant to the school or community (school safety, recycling, how businesses can save energy and reduce waste, etc).
Conduct a survey of historical buildings.
Create a book on tape for senior center or elementary school class.
Create a wildlife or botanical guide for a local wildlife area.
Compile oral histories of the local area by interviewing community elders.
Create an exhibit in a local museum or community center, produce audiotapes, videotapes, and books with historic photographs. Produce a Web site as a "virtual tour" of the history.

The possibilities for projects are endless. The key ingredient for any project idea is that it is student driven, challenging, and meaningful.

It is important to realize that using project-based instruction does not mean doing away with a structured curriculum. Project-based instruction complements, builds on, and enhances what children learn through systematic instruction. Teachers do not let students become the sole decisionmakers about what project to do, nor do teachers sit back and wait for the student to figure out how to go about the process, which may be very challenging (Bryson, 1994). This is where the teacher’s ability to facilitate and act as coach plays an important part in the success of a project. The teacher will have brainstormed ideas with the student to come up with project possibilities, discuss possibilities and options, help the student form a guiding question, and be ready to help the student throughout the implementation process (e.g., setting guidelines, due dates, resource selection, etc.) (Bryson, 1994; Rankin, 1993).

Because there are so many more types of projects than room to list them here, a list of resources for projects is included in the reference section. One book for project selection ideas for younger children is Engaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach by Lilian G. Katz and Sylvia C. Chard. This book gives excellent suggestions on how to brainstorm topics with students and offers many project ideas. Another excellent resource for grades K-8 is Creating and Assessing Performance-Based Curriculum Projects: A Teacher’s Guide to Project-Based Learning and Performance Assessment by Janet C. Banks. This practical how-to guide provides strategies for planning and writing thematic curriculum projects with authentic assessment tools.

What To Watch for: Potential Pitfalls

Here are some possible problem areas to be aware of when undertaking project-based instruction (Harwell, 1997; Moursund, Bielefeldt, & Underwood, 1997; Thomas, 1998):

Projects can often take longer than expected.
Projects often require a lot of preparation time for teachers.
Teachers sometimes feel a need to direct lessons so students learn what is required.
Teachers can give students too much independence—students have less than adequate structure, guidelines, coaching, etc.
Teachers without experience using technology as a cognitive tool may have difficulty incorporating it into the projects.
Non-traditional assessment may be unfamiliar to some teachers.
Arranging parents and community members to be important parts of the project is not easy to arrange and can be time-consuming.
Intensive staff development is required; teachers are not traditionally prepared to integrate content into real-world activities.
Resources may not be readily available for many projects.
There might be a lack of administrative support—the district focus is covering the basics and standards in traditional curriculum methods.
Aligning project goals with curriculum goals can be difficult.
Parents are not always supportive of projects.

How To Avoid Pitfalls

Cover the basics first. If you are worried about not covering the curriculum content, make sure that basic content is covered before students embark on the projects.
Don’t let the activity drive the instructional content. Let the instructional content drive the activity. Students might want to choose a project and then try to fit it into the instructional content.
Make sure the project’s purpose is tied to the curriculum or performance standards.
Provide sufficient time for students to learn new skills or technologies, such as learning to use software programs or designing Web sites.
Divide up the labor. For collaborative projects, help the students define their roles in project planning and implementation so that everyone is able to gain the critical skills and knowledge as outlined by the project goals. For example, everyone in the group can be an interviewer, and take part in the presentation of the final project.
Set up timelines and project deadlines in advance to provide a structure for project activities.
Work together with other teachers to share resources. Consider cross-classroom projects. (Bottoms & Webb, 1998; Thomas, 1998)