Rubric Project Design June2010

7/28/2019 Rubric Project Design June2010

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School: Teacher: Project: :

Rubric for Project Design *

LACKS ESSENTIALFEATURES OF EFFECTIVE PBL

The project has one or more ofthe following problems in each area:

NEEDS FURTHERDEVELOPMENT

The project has essential PBL features buthas some of the following weaknesses:

INCORPORATESBEST PBL PRACTICES

The project has the following strengths:

Overall Idea

- Focused, in-depth,extended inquiry

- Authentic Work

The project is more like an activity orapplied learning task, rather than anextended inquiry.The project is unfocused, more like aunit with several tasks than one project.

The topic and/or Driving Question (DQ)do not reflect authentic issues orchallenges that concern students, their

communities, and/or professionals inthe field.Tasks & products do not resemble thekind of work done in the world outsideof the classroom.

Inquiry is superficial, e.g., information-

gathering is the main task.

Inquiry focuses on only one too-narrow

topic, OR it tries to include too manyissues, side topics, or tasks.

The topic & Driving Question (DQ) do not

completely reflect authentic issues orchallenges that concern students, their

communities, and/or professionals in thefield.

Tasks & products resemble (rather than

replicate) the kind of work done in theworld outside of the classroom.

+ Inquiry is academically rigorous: studentspose questions, gather & interpret data,ask further questions, and develop &evaluate solutions or build evidence foranswers.

+ The topic & Driving Question (DQ) reflectauthentic issues or challenges that concernstudents, their communities, and/or

professionals in the field.+ Tasks & products replicate (rather thanresemble) the kind of work done in theworld outside of the classroom, or areactually used for a real purpose beyondthe classroom.

StudentVoice & Choice,Independence

Students are not given opportunities, ifappropriate, to express voice & choice(i.e., to make decisions affecting thecontent or conduct of the project).Students are expected to work toomuch on their own, without adequateguidance from the teacher and/orbefore they are capable.

Students are given limited opportunities to

express voice & choice, generally withless important matters, e.g., deciding howto divide tasks within a team or whichwebsite to use for research.

Students are expected to workindependently from the teacher to someextent, although they have the skills anddesire to do even more on their own.

+ Students have opportunities to expressvoice & choice on important matters,e.g., the topics to study, questions asked,texts & resources used, productscreated, use of time, and organization oftasks.

+ Students have opportunities to takesignificant responsibility and workindependently from the teacher.

Driving QuestionThere is no DQ.

The DQ is seriously flawed, e.g.:o It has a single or simple answer.

o It is not engaging to students, e.g., it

sounds too academic, like it camefrom a textbook or appeals only to ateacher.

The DQ relates to the project but does not

capture its main focus; it may be more likea theme.

The DQ meets some criteria for an

effective DQ, but lacks others, e.g., it maylead students toward one particularanswer, or it may be hard to answerthoroughly with the resources & time

+ The DQcaptures the main focus of theproject.

+ The DQis open-ended; it will allow studentsto develop more than one reasonable,complex answer.

+ The DQis understandable & inspiring tostudents.

+ To answer the DQ, students will need to

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available and/or by students in this class. understanding.

InterdisciplinaryFeatures

(If Applicable)

The project is more like parallelteaching with the same theme but withdifferent products in each subject.

Different content areas make simplistic

and/or limited contributions to the overallproject (e.g., the math teacher helps withcalculations or the English teacher helpswith writing).

In some subjects the project may not focus

on key standards of the discipline.

+ Each content area makes substantivecontributions to the project, e.g., theproducts students create require theintegration of knowledge & skills fromdifferent disciplines.

+ Teachers of different subjects use theproject to teach important parts of theircurriculum.

+ If the project is centered around onesubject, it is because other subjects plan totake turns being the major substantivefocus of various projects.

Content OutcomesContent outcomes are not specified.Content outcomes are not alignedwith national, state, or districtstandards.

There are too few OR too many content

outcomes

The project emphasizes additional

standards that students do not need toknow to complete project tasks.

+ Specific content outcomesare aligned withkey national, state, or district standards,and represent essential skills andunderstandings needed to successfullycomplete the project.

21st Century Skills

- Collaboration

- Presentation &Defense

- Critical Thinking

- Technology

The development of 21st Century Skillsis not included.It is assumed that some 21st CenturySkills will be gained by students, butthe project does not explicitly scaffoldthe development of these skills.

Students do all project tasks asindividuals.

Students do not present or defend theirculminating product(s).

Students are not asked to think criticallyor solve problems.

Technology is not used, or is usedinappropriately, e.g.:o It distracts or is unnecessary.

o It takes too much time away from

Too few orrelatively unimportant

21st

Century Skills are targeted, OR too manyto be adequately taught & assessed.

The project scaffolds the development of

21st Century Skills to some extent, butthere may not be adequate opportunities tobuild skills or rigorously assess them.

Students work in teams, but it may be more

cooperative than collaborative, e.g. thework of individuals is pieced together.

Students present their culminatingproducts, but their defense is limited to ashort, superficial question/answer session.

Students are asked to analyze & solve

problems and think critically, but not indepth or in a sustained way.

Some technology is used, but more could

be added to build engagement & skills andimprove the quality of student work.

+ A limited number of important 21st centuryskills are targeted to be taught & assessed.

+ There are adequate opportunities to build21st Century Skills and they are rigorouslyassessed, e.g., with a rubric and feedback.

+ Students work in collaborative teams thatemploy the skills of all group memberswhen completing project tasks.

+ Students may collaborate with peoplebeyond the classroom.

+ Students present culminating products anddefend them in detail & in depth, e.g. byexplaining reasoning behind choicesthey made, their inquiry process, etc.

+ Students are asked to analyze & solveproblems and think critically, in depth and ina sustained way.

+ Technology enhances the project inespecially creative ways and/or in ways thatgreatly improve the quality of student skills,engagement, and work.

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gaining other skills & key contentknowledge.

Major/CulminatingProduct(s)andPresentationAudience

No major/culminating products areincluded, only a series of smallerassignments.The major products are not aligned withthe Driving Question, i.e., they do notanswer it or solve the stated problem.

Students do not present or exhibit theirwork to an audience.

Major/culminating products address the

Driving Question, but do not align closelyenough with standards & other outcomes(i.e., will not provide adequate evidence oflearning).

Students are asked to create products that

are mainly replications of others work, e.g.,

a report of information or an artifact basedon a model.

The audience for student presentations is

limited to classmates & the teacher.

+ Major/culminating products provide ananswer to the Driving Question and alignwith standards & other outcomes.

+ Major/culminating products requireinnovation; students create something new,e.g., a written product, piece of media orart, or their own presentation after analysis

of information or synthesis of ideas.

+ Students present or exhibit their work to anaudience that includes other people fromboth within and outside the school, whichmay include online audiences.

Entry EventNo entry event is planned.Day one of the project will feel like anyother day (or worse, because it seemslike more work than usual).

The entry event will gain student attention

but it will not begin the inquiry process bycreating a need to know or generatequestions about the topic of the project.

+ The entry event will powerfully engagestudents, both emotionally & intellectually(i.e., make them feel invested in the project& provoke inquiry).

FormativeAssessment

The project has no formativeassessment to monitor student learningprior to the submission of finalproducts.

Assessments are not used often enough to

identify student learning needs ordifficulties with project work.

Assessments do not cover all essential

content & skills.

+ Assessments frequently monitor studentlearning of important content & skills andstudent work on project tasks, so theteacher can improve instruction.

+ Assessments provide information tostudents so they can create high-qualityproducts through critique & revision.

SummativeAssessment

No summative assessments areplanned.There are no summative assessmentsof individual student learning; e.g., allgrades are determined by team-created

products.Expectations about the quality of workrequired are not communicated tostudents through rubrics and othermethods.

Summative assessment focuses on only

one major product.

Expectations about the quality of work

required are not clearly communicated to

students, e.g., rubrics are unclear orincomplete.

+ Summative assessment focuses on bothteam-created products and individuallearning, with the proper weight for each.

+ Summative assessment targets allimportant content & skill outcomes.

+ Expectations about the quality of workrequired are communicated to studentsthrough rubrics and other devices.

+ Rubrics are complete and of high quality.+ Product exemplars are created or found, to

illustrate the quality of expected work.

DurationTime frame is too short to accomplishproject tasks.The project is too long to justify what isgained.

Time frame may be overly optimistic about

how quickly some tasks can be done.

The project is too stretched-out; students

become disengaged or unfocused.

+ The project is long enough to adequatelyanswer the Driving Question and completehigh-quality work, including time forrevision, presentation, and reflection.



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* NOTE: This rubric may be used when a project is being planned, to fine-tune its design, or after it is conducted, as a design review. Use BIEs forthcomingProject Implementation

Rubric after the project to assess outcomes and the quality of implementation, including the degree to which learning goals were met and students were engaged, and how well time was

used, teams were managed, lessons and other scaffolding were provided, and an effective classroom culture was developed.


Documents

Rubric Project Design June2010