It is no secret that in today's complex world, students face unparalleled demands as they prepare for college, careers, and active citizenship. However, those demands will not be met without a fundamental shift from traditional, teacher-centered instruction toward innovative, student-centered teaching and learning. For schools ready to make such a…

For their ambitious project, called America at War, high school juniors at Da Vinci Charter Academy in the Davis (California) Joint Unified School District didn't just study history. They became historians. Their project offers compelling evidence of what students can accomplish through project-based learning (PBL), an instructional approach that…

Project-based learning is not a new idea. It has a solid track record of increasing student motivation and improving students' problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills (Stites, 1998; Thomas, 2000). In the traditional model, students work in teams to investigate open-ended questions and apply their knowledge through culminating products or…

Seven classroom projects that motivate student writing in Northwest schools are described. The projects vary in grade level. Themes include local history, fairy tales, "Flat Stanley" exchange students, student book publishing, art, poetry, and science. Common practices include having students write about local and personally meaningful…

Idaho secondary students learn the scientific method through outdoor environmental projects related to water quality monitoring. A program trains teachers to design project-based learning and provides extensive followup support. Five-day summer workshops immerse teachers in the types of projects they will orchestrate with their own students.…