After completing the California Choice Project, my students moved to their next Problem-Based Learning unit, the Community Resource Project. Focusing on earthquakes, landslides, and other land changes, this science unit was introduced by the following problem statement: “You work for the government of a city that has seen many changes to the land over the years. You have lived in this city your whole life. Many people have been moving to your city lately, and they have never seen these types of changes before. Understandably, they are nervous about living in such an unfamiliar environment. You will create a resource that teaches new residents about these different types of land changes. Your resource must include the definition and pictures of landslides, earthquakes, creep, chemical weathering, mechanical weathering, dunes, volcanoes, runoff, erosion, and deposition. Also, your resource must include some type of rating or description of how dangerous each of these…

In my previous post in this blog series, I shared the problem statement of the "California Choice Project" and described how my students had an opportunity to identify what they already knew about the project and determine what they still needed to learn before they could begin. The next step was to form groups. Because this project occurred early in the school year, the PBL process was brand new to everyone, and the students were new to one another. So, I organized everyone into pairs that I thought would work well together. This would be the last time, though, that I would make the grouping decisions. Since then, the kids have had the choice of 1) whether they wanted to work alone or with others and 2) who would be in their group. I strongly believe that to maximize motivation, investment in the project, and work quality, children need to…

Before the kickoff to today's big game, you are likely to hear the announcers discuss each team's "Keys to Victory." For example, Phil Simms of CBS may describe how the Broncos need to run the ball effectively, protect Peyton Manning so he has time to pass, and play tough defense against Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. In the classroom, children have their own keys to victory. Over the past couple years, I've discussed this idea with my students before important assessments. Before an end-of-unit math assessment, for example, I ask everyone to identify the single most important thing they need to do to earn a high score. For some kids, it's paying close attention to detail. For others, it's reading the directions carefully, making sure they show all their work, or checking their work carefully at the end. Once the kids have each identified their individual key to victory, I encourage…

In this post I begin to describe “The California Choice Project,” a Problem-Based Learning unit my students completed in the fall as part of our social studies curriculum. Below you will find the problem statement I introduced to the kids on the first day of the unit. In this statement my goals were to 1) create an interesting context that would engage my students, 2) establish a clear final project that would drive everyone’s efforts throughout the unit and allow for meaningful student choice, and 3) include essential content about our topic, the four regions of California. “You are the founder and president of a new technology startup company in North Dakota. Ten people work for your company, and many of them have young children. To grow your business, you have decided to move your company to California and take your employees and their families with you. You need to…