Project Based LearningWhen a class’s praying mantis died, students practiced reading, writing, drawing, communication, and math skills when planning and making invitations for the

Auburn Early Education CenterAuburn, AL, USA

Project Based Learning

• The kindergartners at the Auburn Early Education Center (AEEC) engage in student-directed project-based learning. Students choose topics or projects that interest them, and teachers direct the students towards resources that will help them carry out their projects successfully and creatively.

• Rather than following a set curriculum of worksheets and drills, teachers work to incorporate diff erent academic subjects into the students’ projects. When a class’s praying mantis died, students practiced reading, writing, drawing, communication, and math skills when planning and making invitations for the funeral.

• Teachers and students use interactive whiteboards to explore diff erent digital resources, from online dictionaries to maps and videos about Brazil, a country one class chose to study. With access to books, whiteboards, and other technology, students learn to do basic research and seek out the resources they need. Teachers do not act as the source of all knowledge, but as resources and agents to spark students’ inquisitiveness and interest in learning.

http://www.edutopia.org/kindergarten-project-based-learninghttp://www.edutopia.org/kindergarten-project-based-learning-video

After checking their classmates’ luggage and stamping their hand-made passports, kindergartners pilot their own make-believe plane to Brazil. In the process they learn about geography, international studies, weather patterns, and more.

Learning Gate Community SchoolCarlson Studio Architecture, 2008

Lutz, Florida, USA

Environmental Education

• Says Learning Gate founder and principal Patti Girard, “There’s no rule that says formal education has to be a sit-behind-the-desk type of thing.” Learning Gate Community School, an environmentally-focused charter K-8 school, lives up to this idea.

• A student garden acts as a basis for interdisciplinary learning for students of all ages. Students learn about ecology, nutrition, scientifi c method, mathematics, and more through the lens of the garden. Students learn cooperation, respect, and responsibility through working on the garden together.

• In addition to the daily curriculum activities, each grade has a special focus for ongoing projects. These focuses range from local wildlife to vermiculture (worm composting). The school as a whole also focuses on certain biomes, such as the ocean or forests. This approach allows for greater interdisciplinary learning and exploration of the natural world. Student projects and presentations include artwork, displays, original songs, and more.

http://www.learninggate.org/http://www.carlsonstudio.org/projects/---public/learning-gate/

Students learn together using diff erent kinds of technology Spending time outdoors gives students a better appreciation for their environment

• In keeping with the school’s desire to respect the natural environment, Learning Gate’s newest facility became the fi rst certifi ed Platinum Green Modular School in the world. Features such as tight construction, high insulation, and lots of natural light reduce energy costs while creating an enjoyable learning environment. The school itself becomes a teaching tool for students as well.

• The modular design and careful environmental planning from the start of the project allowed Learning Gate to keep costs lower while still achieving its green design goals.

• Located in a semi-rural area, Learning Gate’s campus has plenty of undeveloped natural space for students to experience and explore.


Learning Gate Community SchoolCarlson Studio Architecture, 2008

Lutz, Florida, USA

Students eat outside the library, and old log cabin moved to the site Covered outdoor walkways connect the modular LEED Platinum buildings

John Stanford International SchoolKindergarten - 5th GradeSeattle, Washington

Global Connections

• The K-5 school delivers three levels of multicultural experience. Starting in kindergarten, students spend half of each day immersed in the study of either Spanish or Japanese. Second, teachers interweave global topics through every area of the curriculum. And finally, the school operates a Bilingual Orientation Center, one of three in the district, where immigrant children learn English until they’re ready for regular school. In three classes -- physical education, art, and music -- those newcomers mingle with their mainstream peers.

• Even more varied than the languages spoken at Stanford are the multicultural lessons, activities, and arts that reach into almost every corner of the building. In English, the children read folktales from Africa and South America. In music, they sing harvest songs from around the world. An annual grant from the Seattle International Children’s Festival, funded by the Washington State Arts Commission, brings visiting artists, who have taught everything from Cuban dance to West African batik painting. Parents who have lived or traveled abroad visit to tell their stories, and children celebrate holidays from other countries, such as Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos and Chinese New Year.

• Stanford educators take these lessons beyond the theoretical by involving the children in public service outside the school. Last year, 70 students and parents, at their own expense, visited la Escuela Primaria Juan de la Barrera, a sister school near the city dump in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Using money raised by selling plants students had grown at Stanford, the parents installed bookshelves and painted walls while their children attended classes. Kids also send supplies and exchange emails with a sister school in Tanzania. And when disaster strikes somewhere, whether it’s a tsunami in Southeast Asia or terrorist attacks in New York City, the children write letters or fill “care” packages with their own hands.

http://www.edutopia.org/world-partyhttp://www.edutopia.org/john-stanford-international-school-language-immersion-video

MaryLynn Powers’s third-grade immersion class, the fruits of that commitment are obvious. One day last fall, she tested the water capacity of different soil components -- humus, sand, and clay -- with six children clustered around her. They watched intently as she poured water into a cup through a filter packed with humus, the earthy, organic matrix of soil.

“?Esta saliendo?” she asked them. (“Is the water coming out?”)

“!Si!” they chorused, without hesitating.

She asked the children, in Spanish, “If we put in 30 milliliters, and there are 28 milliliters in the cup, how many milliliters stayed in the humus?” Wylie Bourgette, who speaks English at home, stretched up his arm and bounced up and down, eager to answer. With a nod from Powers, he said, “Dos.”

Wylie and his classmates spend half the day with Powers studying science and math in Spanish and half the day with another teacher learning social studies and language arts in English. Children in the Japanese program follow a similar routine. The logic in the division of subjects is that social studies are abstract and difficult to grasp in a foreign language, while math and science are easier to teach by demonstration. Students whose native tongue is Spanish or Japanese are typically enrolled in immersion in their own language, so even if they spend half the day struggling in English, they always get a chance to be the experts.

John Stanford International SchoolKindergarten - 5th GradeSeattle, Washington

Global Connections

http://www.edutopia.org/world-partyhttp://www.edutopia.org/john-stanford-international-school-language-immersion-video

Journey NorthAnnenberg Learner

USA & Canada

Global Connections

• Journey North is an internet project that engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students study and track monarch butterfl ies, robins, whooping cranes, grey whales, tulip blooms, and seasonal changes such as sunlight. They can then report their fi ndings to the Journey North website so that students across the continent can share and compare data.

• In addition to sharing data, students can take part in a cultural exchange via a “symbolic migration.” Students in the USA and Canada, along the monarch butterfl ies’ northern migration path, exchange hand-made paper butterfl ies with students in Mexico, near the butterfl ies’ winter haven.

• Journey North’s web-based program provides a platform for teachers to create multidisciplinary curricula in their classrooms. Students learn about geography through mapping of migratory routes, practice writing with pen pals through the “symbolic migration”, use math skills to look at the data collected about the migrations, and explore the biology and ecology of the species they track.

• Journey North is the “nation’s premiere ‘citizen science’ project for children.” It allows students to engage in a real-life, ongoing exploration that not only makes learning relevant and applicable to the students’ world, but allows them to contribute back to it.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs

MicroSocietyBringing Real Life to Learningwww.MicroSociety.org

Play-Based / Project-Based Learning

• A MicroSociety is precisely what its name entails—a mini society created by the students for the students in which they make integral decisions that engage their academic, social emotional, and moral thinking. Students form government, elect leaders, draft, ratify, and amend a constitution, write laws, enforce and interpret the law in courtroom trials, engage in banking, write business plans, open, manage, and operate businesses, suggest ways for “greening” their community, etc. MicroSociety was real-world project-based learning before this became a trendy catch phrase.

• MicroSociety is not an isolated simulation of the real world but an integrated approach to real world learning that instills students with the critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to succeed on standardized tests and far beyond. If we are to compete in the global market, we need to nurture these skills in our students. Rote memorization will not propel them to be victorious in the real world. 21st century habits of mind will.

• In this age of accountability, MicroSociety yields results. We have a track record of fostering achievement in schools with students from diverse backgrounds—everything from the underserved to those with special learning needs to unwed teen moms to English Language Learners. We have played a starring role in day school learning environments of the public, independent, magnet, and charter sorts, as well as after-school programs and summer camps. MicroSociety aims to change the national and global map by removing all barriers to a meaningful 21st century education. We open the path to the future for anyone and everyone who is willing to walk it.

• MicroSociety is not a program but an innovative learning laboratory. In a MicroSociety school learning is authentic, meaningful, and significant. The work that students do matters—in a real world way. Students inquire, hypothesize, propose solutions, test, fail, and retry. Math class isn’t just math class but it is an accounting firm, a collaborative pool of actuaries, an academy for financial advisors. Language Arts/ Literacy is not just another content area chunk of the day but a publishing house, a literature circle, a book club, a busy webzine office. PE is not a mandatory rope-climbing requirement but a health club…a wellness center…a physical reprieve from thinking work. Technology isn’t reserved for computer lab time but it is richly interwoven in all student endeavors. Whether it be to track endurance by recording and analyzing times on runs or to research contact information on a community engineer who could answer questions on creating light without the use of modern electricity.

• Learning is exploratory, expeditionary, experimental, and student driven. Class time isn’t for the old factory model stand-and-deliver lecture with children all in rows, but it is for collaboration, accessing resources, and using higher order thinking skills to apply knowledge that is learned through at-home MicroModules (recorded lessons that children watch at their own pace as homework) A sense of curiosity is fostered as students are guided to question and access school, community & global resources to find the answers. Through classroom project-based learning and outside-of-classroom society building, students gain a strong foundational understanding of personal identity, community connections, self-expression & advocacy, and global sustainability. Students learn how the world works and the part they play in it. They learn to embrace their individual role while grasping mutuality too. Students learn to shape progress and be agents of change. Standards and the core content areas are not taught in isolation but deeply embedded in practices and 21st century habits of mindf

Play-Based / Project-Based Learning

MicroSocietyBringing Real Life to Learningwww.MicroSociety.org

IslandWoodMithun Architects, 2002

Bainbridge Island, WA


• IslandWood is an outdoor learning center for grade-school students from the Puget Sound area. Students visit for up to four days to experience the beautiful natural environment and nature-based curriculum. The site is also used for events and a resident graduate program for education and environmental study.

• The center uses the physical environment as a teaching tool. Nearly 250 acres of forest and wetlands are available for students to study, learn, and explore. The buildings, in form and material, are designed to fi t in with the local environment.

• In addition to dorms, a meeting hall, and indoor classroom space, learning in outdoor spaces is an important part of IslandWood. Structures such as tree houses, fl oating classrooms, bird blinds, campfi re circles, and acres of natural areas all enrich students’ learning experiences.

• Students from all over Seattle visit the site each year to learn about their local natural environment, its ecology, biology, and its conservation.

Tree house Main indoor classrooms Floating classroom

http://www.islandwood.org/http://mithun.com/projects/project_detail/islandwood/

• Sustainable strategies contribute to teaching students and visitors about sustainability and environmental stewardship. Site planning for the 250 acre site identifi ed the most environmentally sensitive parts of the site and sought to preserve and protect such natural resources by clustering buildings in the least-sensitive areas possible.

• A greenhouse in the main complex houses a Living Machine--a constructed wetland designed to safely treat wastewater from the facility. This installation teaches students about waste and resource conservation as well as low-impact solutions to human needs.

Living Machine Campfi re pavilion

IslandWoodMithun Architects, 2002

Bainbridge Island, WA


Urban-Rural ExchangeVarious Oregon 4-H chapters, begun 2006

Various locations in Oregon


• In an eff ort to help bridge increasing urban-rural divides, students from urban Portland exchange places with rural Oregon students for several days to learn about the lifestyles and issues facing others in their home state.

• Urban students work on ranches during branding season and attend class in one-room schoolhouses; rural students experience urban cycling and mass transit in Portland and attend a much larger urban school. Each learns about social, economic, and environmental issues facing the urban and rural communities they visit.

John Day

Burns

LakeviewKlamath Falls

EnterprisePortland

• Most students keep in touch with their host families after the exchange, which has led to long-term relationships between urban and rural residents. Many Portland families now buy beef directly from host ranching families as part of a cooperative begun by program participants.

• The program has helped students on both sides better understand long-held diff erences in opinion and see through stereotypes. Furthermore, urban and rural students have learned that they share a common love and concern about their home state.

http://www.4hwildlifestewards.org/Oregon%20Programs/Urban-Rural%20Exchange/http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/release/2008/05/osu-rural-urban-exchange-off ers-new-perspectives

School for Environmental Studies (“Zoo School”)HGA

Apple Valley, MN


• The aff ectionately nicknamed Zoo School is an optional 2-year high school where students learn through the lens of environmental studies. Combining a partnership with the Minnesota Zoological Gardens with access to nearby woods, ponds, and prairies create ample opportunities for students to engage in real environmental studies that help them learn while simultaneously helping their community.

• Student projects range from behavior monitoring of zoo animals to water quality testing of local natural areas to teaching younger children about the local environment. Such projects create a framework for learning math, science, language, and other skills, while keeping students engaged in learning and in helping their community. Teachers are not the center of student learning, but rather act as facilitators for student engagement.

• Many students who were previously uninterested in school fi nd themselves engaged in their studies, while high-achieving students fi nd they can push the boundaries of their learning.

http://www.edutopia.org/school-environmental-studies-project-learninghttp://www.designshare.com/index.php/case-studies/school-of-environmental-studies/

School for Environmental Studies (“Zoo School”)HGA

Apple Valley, MN


• Designing the school with the unique environmental studies curriculum in mind, architect Bruce Jilk’s design forgoes traditional classrooms in favor of clusters of student work stations, grouped into one of four “houses.” These workstations allow studies to be focused around student-directed spaces, rather than teacher-controlled classrooms. Students feel a sense of ownership of their school environment as well as a strong sense of community among their nearby classmates.

Douglas Park SchoolFielding Nair International

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Personalized Learning Community Schools

• Douglas Park School is one of six new schools in Regina, Saskatchewan designed to nurture Creative Age learners.

• Personal Learning Communities (PLCs) off er teachers the fl exibility of choosing the right size and type of space for each learning activity from the variety of spaces within the PLC rather than being confi ned to a classroom. Additionally, the spaces in each PLC have been designed for maximum fl exibility, many with roll-up glass doors that allow classrooms to open to each other.

• At the heart of each PLC is a commons or fl exible open space for project-based learning, group work, student presentations and assemblies. Moveable furniture is readily rearranged daily and weekly to accommodate activities such as quiet reading, eating, collaborating, using laptops and making art and science projects in wet and messy areas.

• Like a theatre or stage for learning, the school commons can be rearranged to accommodate school meetings, performances and fi lms. The community can also make good use of this space in the evenings and weekends, along with the gym and generous coff ee bar space.

Features such as interior garage doors maximize the fl exibility of the space. View from the Personal Learning Commons balcony

http://www.fi eldingnair.com/index.php/projects/douglas-park-school/

Douglas Park SchoolFielding Nair International


Personal Learning Community


Herchmer Wascana Community SchoolFielding Nair International



• Herchmer Wascana Community Elementary School is a new school designed to nurture Creative Age learners. The design will accommodate up to 357 students ranging from Pre-Kindergarten through grade 8.

• Older Students have their Personal Learning Community (PLC) on the Second Floor with their own Commons. Each PLC has its own entry and boot room, warming kitchen for students to prepare snacks or use the sink for projects, and private individual washrooms.

• The atrium commons acts as a central heart, unifying the four PLCs, and providing core learning space for multiple learning modalities. The atrium commons can be rearranged to accommodate all school meetings, performances and fi lms. The community can also make good use of this space in the evenings and weekends, as well as the gym and nutrition room.

• The facility includes an Integrated Educational Learning Centre which has been designed to help mainstream special needs students more fl uidly with the rest of the student population.

http://www.fi eldingnair.com/index.php/projects/herchmer-wascana-community-school/

Learning

Studios

Learning

Studios

• The Media Resource Centre is a new vision for the traditional Library. It is a fl exible space that can open onto the commons or be closed off with areas for using laptops, collaborating or reading alone.

Herchmer Wascana Community SchoolFielding Nair International



Variety of seatingCommons for learning and collaboration

Commons allow for independent

study space

Medford Elementary SchoolsFielding Nair International & OPSIS, 2010

Medford, OR


• Four aging elementary schools in Medford, Oregon were re-built to adapt to the demands of a student-centered creative age. The schools each accommodate approximately 428 students in 57,000 SF.

• Departing from outdated educational models, the schools in Medford have child-centered, research-based curricula & designs. Small Learning Communities (SLCs) create more fl exible and adjustable learning environments. Professional Learning Communities within the SLCs allow for teachers to collaborate and engage in team teaching.

• The central commons is an adaptable space, used by students for self-directed study, and with visual supervision from the administration area. It is also used for school and community assemblies, a “grandparent” community reading program, student concerts, and by a local symphony chamber group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LotjibKCd0g http://www.fi eldingnair.com/index.php/projects/medford-elementary-schools/

Medford Elementary SchoolsFielding Nair International & OPSIS, 2010

Medford, OR

Grades 4-6 Small Learning Community consists of 3 Learning Studios with 25-30 students each and a Commons. This particular one also has a Title 1 Studio that will be used by the entire school. Each studio has movable bookcases, 6 computers, mobile whiteboards, a sink, a variety of table shapes, and soft seating. The furnishings are becoming more adult scale in grades 4-6 to meet the needs of growing students. There is also more seating around the windows providing the most desirable independent and group workspaces close to natural light.

The Meeting Area is a cozy spot with comfortable sofas and chairs; a small coffee table and additional soft seating such as ottomans that can be pulled in as needed. Teachers within the SLC could use this space for their meetings.

The Outdoors Learning Patio provides for day-to-day activities including meals, peer tutoring, team collaborative work and independent study. There is a sink outside giving this space multifunction for art, science and naturalist learning as well as hands on learning for larger projects and activity based work. Visual connections to the Commons allow student to use this space without constant monitoring.

Grades 4-6 studios have a variety of tables and mobile whiteboards and curvy walls so the class can meet as a whole and then easily break into groups of different sizes.

The Presentation Area in the Commons provides for lecture formats, guest speakers, movies and student presentations as well as small performances.

The Commons area provides additional space for project and activity based work, presentations, snacks, peer tutoring and large group meetings. Transparency between the Commons and Studios create “built in safety” with visual connections between students and teachers. There is a kitchen in the Commons with a sink, refrigerator and microwave. Central storage is provided in the Commons that is movable, plus carts can move between studios and the Commons. Student cubbies are dispersed throughout to reduce crowding at specific times and behavioral issues. Students from different studios can use this space get to know one another and to collaborate on projects

Students, staff and volunteers can use the Conference Rooms. One of them is larger with (2) 10 feet rounds providing space for more collaborative work and lecture format. The smaller room is furnished with tables and chairs that can be used in various configurations depending on the need. There is visual connection between both these rooms and the Commons.

All students throughout the school will use this Title 1 Studio. There is an entry from outside the SLC so that students can enter without disturbing the SLC. It is outfitted with computers on 3 round tables (6 computers per table), half-round and rectangle tables for group work as well as soft seating and window seats for independent work. There is enough furniture to work with over 35 students. If there comes a time where Title 1 is not needed or grades 4-6 population increases, this space can be turned into a Learning studio with only small changes to the furnishings.

LEARNING STUDIO950 sf


TITLE 1 STUDIO950 sf

COMMONS1500 sf

EATING /GAMES & PUZZLES

PROJECT AREA

SMALL KITCHEN

OUTDOOR STORAGE

OUTDOOR LEARNING

COMPUTER LEARNING

MESSY AREA

MESSY AREA

READING

WRITING

READING

SMALL GROUPROOM120 sf

COMPUTER LEARNING

MEETING AREA

CUBBIES

WRITING

MATHMATH

MESSYAREA

COMPUTER LEARNING

MATHREADING

WRITING

LARGEGROUPROOM250 sf

PRESENTATION



Global21West Virginia Department of Education, 2005

West Virginia

Teacher as Professionals

• Following the success of Finland’s approach to education, the West Virginia Schools Superintendent developed a new program for public schools emphasizing higher standards, less standardized testing, and more support for teachers.

• The role of teachers is changing to eff ectively prepare students for the 21st century. Instead of the single authoritarian of their classroom, teachers are part of a team of facilitators who guide students through curriculum and content.

• On going professional development and the Teacher Leadership Institute help teachers learn about the newest digital technologies, teaching methods, and resources available to them. Teachers prepare content, share it with their colleagues, and bring it back to their classrooms. Through this program, teachers have made very successful changes in their teaching, such as better integration of technology and project-based learning.

• With a greater emphasis on student achievement in the classroom over standardized test scores, teachers and administrators need to support and collaborate with each other more than ever. By building a strong network of teachers, student’s needs can more fully be met.

http://wvde.state.wv.us/global21/http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/29/education.wv.fi nland/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

“The Missing Link in School Reform”Carrie R. Leana, 2011

Stanford Social Innovation Review


• Many proponents of school reform point to improving teacher preparedness and performance as a way of improving student learning. Discussion often focuses on professional development, assessing teacher performance, and building incentives for teachers to improve student performance. These solutions, however, may not be as eff ective as we hope.

• Missing from this discussion is the importance of teacher collaboration in the workplace. When teachers can use each other as resources for teaching, their confi dence and performance improve. Studies have shown that increasing teacher collaboration can bring dramatic increases in student performance.

• Administrators should not be policing teacher performance, but rather supporting it. When teachers feel secure in their relationship with school administration and other teachers, they are more likely to use them as resources. Administrators best help students by making connections outside the school that lead to greater resources for the school as a whole.

• As one NYC teacher explains, “One teacher might emphasize students knowing all the facts and operational skills. Another might think that what’s most important is to develop a love of learning in students. Still another teacher might want to develop students to be better critical thinkers and problem solvers, and they’re not as concerned about students memorizing the facts. A good teacher needs to help students develop all of those things, but it’s easy to get stuck in your own ideology if you are working alone. With collaboration, you are exposed to other teachers’ priorities and are better able to incorporate them to broaden your own approach in the classroom.”

Teacher Collaboration Area in a

Puerto Rican school

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_missing_link_in_school_reform/

Wooranna Park Primary SchoolEst. 1971

Dandenong North, Victoria, Australia


• Wooranna Park Primary school engages students with a curriculum focused not on teachers require of students, but of what students require of teachers. Study units are open-ended, allowing space for students of diff erent abilities and levels of interest to engage with the subject at hand. Students further conduct independent projects, ranging from a few days to a year in length. Students receive direction and mentorship not from one teacher, but from a collaborative team.

• With this approach to learning, it becomes imperative that teachers share information and support each other in order to best support their students’ needs. Weekly check-in meetings with teachers and administrators allow the faculty to share new approaches to teaching a subject, how material is being covered, and what progress is being made or problems are arising with individual students.

• By allowing teachers to work collaboratively and share their teaching strengths, they are able to facilitate interdisciplinary learning for students that would otherwise be too diffi cult for a single teacher to accomplish.

http://www.woorannaparkps.vic.edu.au/index.htm

Documents

Project Based LearningWhen a class’s praying mantis died, students practiced reading, writing, drawing, communication, and math skills when planning and making invitations for the