ELT Initiative

Expanding school time allows more time for project-based learning. Research shows what many educators know well from experience: Students learn best by “doing.” Most educators recognize the value of project-based learning, a comprehensive approach to teaching that engages students in activities that: reinforce academic lessons, deepen understanding of key concepts, and develop important skills. However, it is often difficult for teachers to use projects because they are time consuming.

Many ELT schools have worked to integrate project-based learning into the school day either within core academic classes or in theme-based electives such as forensics, zoology, weather, or engineering. Teachers report that the increase in project-based learning is yielding significant benefits in the form of deeper student engagement in learning and improved understanding of core concepts. It is also building students’ problem-solving skills and their ability to work collaboratively in teams.

What Is Project-Based Learning?

“Project-based learning is a comprehensive instructional approach to engage students in sustained, cooperative investigation” (Bransford & Stein, 1993). Through project-based learning, a teacher often presents a problem and assigns students to work collaboratively in small groups to solve this problem. In doing so, students will often need to brainstorm and debate ideas, clarify key information, build on and review prior knowledge, make predictions, experiment, make observations, and ultimately create a product, solution, or conclusion based on their work.

For example, at the Silvia Elementary School in Fall River, classroom teacher Sherry Carvalho gave her 4th grade students three rocks and asked them to figure out how to weigh them given a small set of materials at their disposal. Students worked together in small groups of three or four to create a plan for solving the problem and then create a prototype of their scale. At the end of the class, students reflected on the success of their design plan and explained what they learned from the process. “The students learned several skills from this experience. They learned that they need to work together as a group … . But the biggest skill, in my opinion, is problem solving … . They learn how to be problem solvers,” Carvalho explains. To learn more about this example, click the link below:

Mission Discovery: Using More Time to Enhance Science
For another example of project-based learning in an ELT school, see Making Time for Hands-On Learning.