in meaningful learning. But it is the
process of students’ learning and the
depth of their cognitive engagement—
rather than the resulting product—that
distinguishes projects from busywork.
What Every Good Project Needs
A project is meaningful if it fulfills
two criteria. First, students must per-
ceive the work as personally mean-
ingful, as a task that matters and that
they want to do well. Second, a mean-
ingful project fulfills an educational
purpose. Well-designed and well-
implemented project-based learning
is meaningful in both ways.
students off; it looks like a prelude to
busywork.
Many students find schoolwork
meaningless because they don’t perceive a need to know what they’re
being taught. They are unmotivated by
a teacher’s suggestion that they should
learn something because they’ll need
it later in life, for the next course, or
simply because “it’s going to be on the
test.” With a compelling student project,
A good driving
1. A Need to Know
Imagine that on the first day of the
infectious disease unit, Ms. McIntyre
showed a video depicting a beautiful
beach, which ended with a shot of a
sign reading, “Beach Closed: Contaminated Water.” Suppose watching this
video led to a lively (and sometimes
disgusting) discussion in which students
shared their experiences with suspicious
water quality, discussed times when
beaches had been closed and why,
and talked about how much pollution
bothered them. The teacher could then
introduce the project by telling students
that they would be learning more about
ocean pollution and proposing actions
to combat it.
question captures
the heart of the
project in clear,
compelling language.
the reason for learning relevant material
becomes clear: I need to know this to
meet the challenge I’ve accepted.
• • •
anne dowie photography
Teachers can powerfully activate
students’ need to know content by
launching a project with an “entry
event” that engages interest and initiates questioning. An entry event can
be almost anything: a video, a lively
discussion, a guest speaker, a field trip,
or a piece of mock correspondence
that sets up a scenario. In contrast,
announcing a project by distributing
a packet of papers is likely to turn
Students at Mare Island Technical
Academy in Vallejo present their
project work to an audience.
2. A Driving Question
After the discussion about beach pollution, Ms. McIntyre led students in
brainstorming possible solutions, such
as enacting laws, designing better
waste-treatment systems, and raising
public awareness about the need to
reduce contaminants. Students created
a driving question to focus their efforts,
focusing on a specific local area: How
can we reduce the number of days Foster’s Beach is closed because of poor
water quality?
• • •
A good driving question captures the
heart of the project in clear, compelling
language, which gives students a sense
of purpose and challenge. The question
should be provocative, open-ended,
