Why End the Year With a Project Based Learning Unit?

I'm sure your students and you are tired from testing and ready to end the year! Are you students losing interest in school? Are you having to deal with behavior issues that you didn't have earlier in the year? Do you wonder how you're going to keep your students engaged with just a few weeks left? In this post, I'll give you a few reasons why it's a good idea to end the year with a project based learning unit.

1. Students take Ownership

With pbl, learning is student centered. Students take ownership of their learning by digging deeper to complete a challenge or solve a problem. When students have a personal interest in a subject, they become independent learners. For example, the disappearance of the Monarch Butterfly has a huge impact on our ecosystem. And, the issue of homelessness impacts our society. Through this unit, students learn about tolerance and acceptance. Students are more eager to collaborate with classmates and gain more self- confidence.

2. Students Are Mobile

With project based learning, you have more opportunities to take students outside for investigations, go on field trips, and create product presentations for an audience. Let's face it; students are antsy at the end of the year. When you implement a pbl unit, students are totally engaged. With voice and choice, activities can be differentiated and students feel empowered. Many pbl units involve STEM so students are creating!

3. Teachers' Roles Change

This is the best part! You become a facilitator! Even though you are still assessing your students, you are not lecturing, providing worksheets, or doing other whole group activities. Students develop their own strategies in solving the problem or approaching a challenge. They aren't as dependent on your guidance. They are becoming experts!

"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."

-- Albert Einstein

4. Standards are still being taught

Students may not realize it, but they are learning! This is an easy way to slip in skills that need to be taught or ones that need to be reviewed. Project based learning doesn't focus on one subject area. Students learn reading skills, math, reading, writing, science, and social studies.

5. Continued Learning

Project Based Learning sparks curiosity in students which leads students to wanting to learn more. Through skills learned during a project based learning unit, students apply what they have learned in other areas of the curriculum and in solving local and global problems.

So, instead of spending the last couple of weeks trying to keep your students motivated, try to end the year with a project based learning unit. Your students will love working with real-world problems or challenges. YOU will, too!