Pbl: For Schools Letter - Project Based Learning Help

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Can Project Based Learning help

I am a teacher. For the past three years I have been a teacher in an inner city school and can now draw some great comparisons. The assessments students take to “show what they know or have learned” seem to be  being questioned. As we all know not all students are the same, this should hold true for the assessments they take. There has been much research conducted on Project Based Learning and the positive outcomes it can have on student learning.

Project Based Learning can be an alternative to assessment used to be more equitable to all students. There have been many studies conducted to show the effectiveness of project based learning. In a study conducted by Schwering, R. E.  entitled Optimizing Learning In Project Based Capstone Courses, the author talks about how all learners can think back to a memorable school experience relating to authentic learning. This is just one positive element that project based learning can add to assessing students. Through the use of pretests and posttest this study demonstrated how students in higher-level education classes retained more information using a project based learning model rather than direct instruction.

In a case study by Catapano, S., Ed.D., & Gray, J., Ed.D entitled Saturday School: Implementing  Project-based Learning in an Urban School, researches used project based learning to have a positive impact on student learning outcomes in urban school settings. This study used a plethora of measurement tools to gauge student learning outcome and student experience. Students once again preformed much better on posttests after having project based learning implemented. One of the major role players in education is motivation and project based learning has a great motivating effect on students throughout the world.