"Education is not an affair of 'telling' and being told, but an active and constructive process" -John Dewey
Project Based Learning (PBL)
Here are a few examples of projects...
This is an economics project that Mr. Cantrell gave to his students. The students were to imagine that they were 25 years old. They were asked to think: What job would I have? Where would I live? What kind of car would I have? What type of expenses would I have?.
Then, they were to make a bugdet. They had to have a monthly house, car, and grocery payment, pay for college and have student loans, find out how much insurance would cost them, and finally had to figure out how much their taxes would be! After paying all of this, they needed to see if they were either over or under their budget and decide what to do if they had extra money or what they would have to do if they were in debt.
This is another economics project that is a great example and is my personal favorite! This was originally a Prezi, however I could not post the link because the student's name is on the project, and I could not edit it out. I did use the Snipping Tool on my computer to show what it looks like.
Every year, Mr. Cantrell does what he calls The Mammoth Project for the American Civil War. This a huge project that focuses on the life, conditions, and the events of the Civil War. Students have a variety of options to make their project. They can make hardtack, create a diorama, write a poem or song, make a speech, play marching signals on the drums (one student actually did that, it was awesome), create what would a soldier might carry with him, and paint or draw a scene. The students could do anything they thought might make a good project, as long as they had Mr. Cantrell's approval.
This particular project is a diorama of the infamous POW camp at Andersonville in Georgia
This was another option for Mr. Cantrell's Mammoth Project. A student can make a "Star Quilt". A "Star Quilt" was used for the Underground Railroad to signify a safe house for runaway slaves escaping to the North.
A good example for science is the Cake Cell Project. Students are required to make a cake, then find food that looks like a certain organelle, finally the student would have to use the food to make a cell! The student creates labels for each "organelle" and on a seperate paper or presentation, tell what each organelle's function is
This project was created by a few of my classmates in my Comparitive Religions class. The project was to compare and contrast the three Semetic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). They decided to make these dolls that each represent each religion and created a story for each of them that contained all of the information about each religion.