CHAPTER 5
Strategies for Using Project-Based Learning
What Is It?
Project-based learning (PBL) engages students “in solving real-world problems or answering a complex question” (PBLWorks, 2019, in Project Based Learning section, para. 1).
In PBL, students are challenged to solve either personal real-world problems, such as creating a diet for their age and activity level, or larger international problems, like how to rid the ocean of plastic.
What is the difference between doing projects and doing PBL? Projects are generally shorter in nature, don't require the same level of collaboration, and have less rigor. PBL typically requires more classroom time because students are performing research and creating an end product that involves collaboration among their peers (PBLWorks, 2019).
Why We Like It
PBL can engage students because their class work can have real-life relevance. Additionally, they are learning that science requires the use of skills learned in other content areas, such as reading, writing, and math.
We believe the most meaningful benefit of PBL can be the way students perceive themselves after solving the problem or answering the complex question. We've found that many of our students who have a poor perception of their abilities often find they are capable of more than they originally imagined. And some students who easily give up when school becomes difficult can learn how to persevere in the face of challenges.
Supporting Research
PBL may increase both motivation and learning for students because they may relate to the real-world questions being considered in class (Blumenfeld et al., 1991).
Studies have shown that PBL can also increase student communication and teamwork skills, knowledge retention, and the ability to apply learning to other situations, also known as “transfer” (Prince & Felder, 2006, p. 129).
Skills for Intentional Scholars/NGSS Connections
When students participate in PBL, they are using all three Skills for Intentional Scholars. PBLWorks (an organization of educators focused on supporting PBL in K-12 classrooms) states that as a result of participating in PBL, “students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills” (PBLWorks, 2019, Project Based Learning section, para. 1).
Students can use critical thinking from the beginning of a project to its end. When a problem or complex question is initially presented to students, they first interpret and define the problem. Students creatively problem solve as they brainstorm possible solutions. Once they've designed a solution, they analyze its effectiveness and determine how to communicate their success.
In many ways, PBL is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which call for a deeper understanding and application of content (NGSS, 2013a). The NGSS incorporate seven crosscutting concepts, many of which can easily lead to a PBL project. Here are the crosscutting concepts and a brief explanation of each:
- Patterns—can determine how matter is organized and generates questions about relationships
- Cause and effect—Mechanism and explanation—cause-and-effect relationships can be used to predict future events
- Scale, proportion, and quantity—phenomena can behave differently at different scales, proportion, and quantities
- Systems and system models—models can provide an understanding of systems and can create a testing environment for ideas
- Energy and matter—Flows, cycles, and conservation—by tracking energy and matter flowing into and out of systems, we can learn system limitations and possibilities
- Structure and function—an object's shape can determine its properties and functions
- Stability and change—the description of how a system functions and what causes them to change
See Table 5.1: PBL Projects for the NGSS Disciplines in the Application section for a list of PBL ideas and how they integrate crosscutting concepts.
Application
Some teachers may be hesitant about using PBL in their classrooms for a variety of reasons. One reason may be because they aren't an expert in the field that students are studying. We've found ourselves in the same situation. For example, when Mandi had her students study an environmental issue affecting a human population, she did not know the problems of every country and the budgets necessary for solving them. And, Tara didn't know the carbon footprint of every restaurant when she challenged her students to analyze the footprint of their favorite eating establishment and create three ways the restaurant could be more environmentally friendly.
PBL does not require that the teacher be the expert. Instead, the students become the experts. The teacher's role is to support students by helping them to perform research, document their ideas, and guide their crafting of solutions.
We divide PBL into four steps: planning, working in structured groups, giving authentic presentations, and using scoring guides and rubrics. We also provide examples of PBL ideas for each of the four disciplines of the NGSS (earth and space sciences; physical sciences; life sciences; and technology, engineering, and applications of science) that integrate crosscutting concepts.
PLANNING
Teacher-Initiated Projects
PBL can be initiated by the teacher. For example, after visiting a local fast-food restaurant, Tara was appalled by the amount of waste that was generated—leftover food, wrappers, cups, lids, and straws. She took this problem to her students and challenged them to research the carbon footprints of several restaurants. Students then identified three changes each restaurant could implement in order to reduce their carbon footprints.
In addition to being inspired by events that occur in our lives, such as eating at a restaurant, we also find inspiration within our content standards. We determine what concepts we want our students to learn and the number of class periods we have available to teach these concepts. For example, when we teach a geology unit, our standards require that students learn how rocks and minerals are classified by their observable properties. Our district's curriculum map suggests two weeks to teach this standard.
The next step is to ask, “When would this information be useful for people outside of our classroom?” For example, many of our students spend time on mountain trails (we teach in Arizona), so we determined that they may be able to use the skill of classifying rocks and minerals during their weekend hikes. It is important to us that our students' interests be at the center of their learning because it can increase engagement and enhance retention of newly learned knowledge (Alrashidi, Phan, & Ngu, 2016).
The next step is to create a scenario. Scenario-based projects provide a real-world connection where students can gain a sense of agency and purpose (Mindset Scholars Network, 2015).
Once the scenario has been established, we then construct a problem that doesn't have a right or wrong answer. However, students must be able to justify their conclusion. The book Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids explains that PBL is intriguing because “students not only must come to their own conclusions based on their analysis, research, and knowledge, but also explain how they got there” (Pope, Brown, & Miles, 2015, p. 68).
The scenario we created for our geology unit asked students to imagine they were hiking South Mountain, which is just north of our school. The scenario told the story of students who found several rocks with unique physical features and wondered what minerals were in the rocks. Prior to introducing the scenario to our students, the two of us went on a hike and collected several different types of rocks from South Mountain. Students were challenged to create tests that would identify the type of rocks and their minerals. There was no right or wrong answer because they could use traditional tests such as the hardness, streak color, and transparency, which they learned about through research, or they could create their own tests, which required them to use their creative problem-solving skills.
Student-Initiated Projects
An additional type of PBL allows students to identify a problem that personally interests them. We recommend, however, that the class first completes at least one teacher-initiated project so students become familiar with the work involved in successfully completing PBL activities.
There are two methods to manage student-initiated PBL projects. The first one involves placing students into groups and allowing them to choose the problem or complex question they want to address. The second method is allowing individual students to choose a problem or complex question and then forming small groups based on similar interests. To help students brainstorm topics, we use the website “16 Questions to Help Students Brainstorm Project-Based Learning,” which can be found at https://teachthought.com/learning-models/4-stages-project-based-learning.
In our experience, giving students all 16 questions can be very overwhelming, especially for younger students. To minimize anxiousness, we ask students only a few of the 16 questions listed on the website. Our favorite questions to begin with are:
- What interests me? What is important to me?
- Who in my classroom, school, community, etc., would most benefit from my creativity, passion, and continued effort?
- What about me is unique and how can I use that to improve something else?
- What problems exist that I can begin to solve?
There are many times we are not able to simply allow students to have free reign over choosing any project idea they would like. For example, students need to learn specific content based on standards, and classrooms often have time constrictions. In order to allow student choice while also ensuring students are learning our state science standards during the process, we often ask them to answer the above questions within the scope of the content we are aiming to teach. For example, when working in an astronomy unit, we would communicate to students the major concepts we would be learning and tell them to answer the questions within those key ideas.
Regardless of whether a PBL lesson is initiated by the teacher or the students, it begins with an engaging real-life problem or complex question. This is one reason why it's important for teachers to know their students. When a teacher knows their students' interests, the teacher can better plan, engage, and support them. See Chapter 14: Strategies for Cultural Responsiveness for resources that help teachers learn about their students.
WORKING IN STRUCTURED GROUPS
Most PBL activities are completed in small groups of two or three because, in our experience, it is easier to manage the work efforts of individual students in small groups. PBL provides students an opportunity to practice their social emotional skills, such as understanding and managing their emotions, achieving goals, and making good decisions. In Chapter 2: Strategies for Teaching Lab Procedures, we provide several strategies for grouping students and supporting them as they practice their social emotional skills.
Every student should have individual responsibilities with clear deadlines. When we first introduce a problem or complex question in class and students have moved into their learning groups, we ask them to divide the work equally among each team member.
To help students divide tasks equally, we use a worksheet entitled PBL Task Manager. Figure 5.1: Example of PBL Task Manager—Carbon Footprint of a Restaurant shows some of the tasks and deadlines Tara established for a PBL activity focused on reducing the carbon footprint of a restaurant.
Teacher-Initiated Projects
Prior to introducing a teacher-initiated project to the class, we complete the first two columns (“To Do List” and “Task Deadline”) in Figure 5.1 and list each task and its corresponding deadline.
We attempt to break up PBL activities into tasks that are similar in difficulty and require the same amount of time to complete. This ensures that regardless of which tasks are assigned to each student, they all have similar levels of rigor. (For an example of how to differentiate, see the section Differentiation for Diverse Learners.) Students work in their groups the first day to complete the third column (“Student Assigned to Task”) so that everyone in the group knows who is responsible for each task. It also helps us as teachers because we, too, know which task each individual student is assigned to complete.
The last column (“Teacher Comments”) is completed by us. Because many students don't have access to each other outside of class, they receive ample time to complete the entire PBL activity in class (yes, in theory, students could collaborate online, but we are not confident that many could or would). Students are instructed to sit near their group members every day. As they work on their tasks, we meet with each group to provide feedback by filling out the last column. When a student shows us complete and accurate work, we initial the “Teacher Comments” column. But if the work requires improvement, we provide verbal feedback and document the feedback in that column. When a student improves their work, they present it to us again and receive a final grade.
There are many benefits to using this process. In our experience, the quality of student work is higher because we've been providing feedback throughout the project. Additionally, if a student or an entire group gets behind, we know about it before it's too late because we monitor each group several times throughout the activity and proactively communicate with parents.
Student-Initiated Projects
If the project is student-initiated, we distribute Figure 5.2: Blank PBL Task Manager to each student once they have formed their project groups. We guide the class in filling out the first two columns, “To Do List” and “Task Deadline.”
We start by having each group break down their project into smaller tasks. Obviously, since all groups have different project topics, their tasks will look different. We instruct them by saying:
You need to break this project into smaller tasks that take the same amount of time. Each group member will be assigned these small tasks so that everyone is working on the project equally. We are going to give you 10 minutes to work with your group members to make a list of tasks that need to be completed in order to answer your project's question. In addition, you need to estimate how long it will take to complete each task. Jot down your ideas on the back of the worksheet so that you can share them with me as I walk around.
We check in with every group as they are working. We want to ensure they are on task and not performing research or solving the problem. Students are often excited to get to work so it may become necessary to slow them down and help them plan their project first.
After 10 min, we stop and remind them about the goal of having an equal amount of work for all group members. We say:
Now check that each task takes the same amount of time. Are there any tasks that can be combined or any that need to be split up to make smaller tasks? You have another five minutes to determine this and finalize your list of tasks. I will be walking around to check and help you, if needed.
To fill out the second column, we provide the students with the number of minutes they will receive each day to work on their project. Groups are responsible for determining each task's due date based on the amount of time they have in class to work.
After the first two columns in Figure 5.2 are complete, we follow the same procedures as teacher-initiated projects:
- Students complete the third column: “Student Assigned to Task.”
- Students work on the tasks as we walk around the room, offering guidance.
- When due dates arrive, we check each student's progress and document it in Figure 5.2 and the gradebook.
GIVING AUTHENTIC PRESENTATIONS
Teacher-Initiated Projects
When we initiate a PBL project, we first identify the problem or complex question students will solve, the audience to whom students will present, and the venue for the presentation. Then we determine the final product students will create, which will vary greatly. Here are some examples of products our students have created at the end of a PBL activity:
- Essays and Press Kits: High school ecology students determined how restaurants could reduce their carbon footprint. The students wrote three essays—one for each change they were suggesting to their restaurant. The essays were emailed to the restaurant representative two weeks prior to an in-person meeting on campus. The meeting allowed the representative to ask questions and share concerns. Students also created press kits, which included student-created marketing material that the restaurants could use to advertise themselves as an environment-friendly business. These kits were presented to the representatives when they attended the meeting.
- PowerPoint, Prezi, or Google Slides presentation: Seventh-grade students redesigned a pizza box to make it recyclable. They invited 23 pizza companies to attend a presentation in their classroom. The students dressed up in a professional manner and delivered an oral presentation to the 21 companies who attended.
- Public Service Announcement Video: Students were asked to choose any country with an environmental issue that was negatively affecting the human population. Students then worked to solve the problem and generated a budget to implement their solution. Their video outlined the problem and solution and included a plea for donations to support their endeavor. We posted the videos on a class website.
Student-Initiated Projects
When students initiate a PBL project, we first have them identify the problem or complex question they want to solve, identify the audience to whom they will present, and choose the venue for the presentation. We then ask students to determine their final product. Most often, in our experience, students default to a PowerPoint or Google Slide presentation. They feel most comfortable using this technology, which is why they choose it; however, we also want students to have experience with other presentation types. To help them choose an unfamiliar type of presentation, we offer a list of options, such as:
- videos: action-packed, dramatic, musical, public service announcement
- written: Prezi, poster, essay, press kit
- audio: interview, speech
- visual: skit, Animoto slideshow
We lead the students through a vote so they can decide which product they will create.
See the Technology Connections section for additional ideas for student presentations.
Presenting to an Authentic Audience
After students solve the problem or answer the complex question, the last step is to present their solution to an authentic audience, which is someone who can implement their solution. For example, after Tara's students identified changes for restaurant chains across the country, representatives from each restaurant were invited to the school to meet with her students. Many restaurant owners or their representatives attended the meetings.
Depending on the project, other examples of authentic audience members include engineers, city managers, non-profit administrators, and school district personnel. When the project is student-initiated, we lead the class in a discussion to help them identify to whom they will present. In our experience, students may have personal connections with unique professionals, such as a student's aunt who is a geologist or a parent who works as an engineer.
When we initiate the project or when students don't know someone in an applicable field, we reach out to experts and invite them into our classrooms, either in person or virtually. Some experts visit the school, others participate in a phone call, and yet others use Skype or Google Hangouts to connect with students.
The following advice may seem basic, but we have found it to be critical: To ensure experts are available on the day you need their presence, we suggest connecting with them early. And once the meeting date and time have been established, verify their availability a few days in advance. Some of our experts have had to reschedule a meeting at the last minute so we suggest having an alternate plan, which can be an alternate expert or an alternate date and time. The bottom line is to be flexible.
We've found that many experts are willing to talk to students, so we are not hesitant to ask for a meeting.
To show their appreciation, students write a handwritten thank you letter to the expert who met with them.
When we have difficulty finding an expert, we use the resources in Larry Ferlazzo's blog entitled “The Best Places Where Students Can Write for an Authentic Audience” at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/04/01/the-best-places-where-students-can-write-for-an-authentic-audience. In addition to providing resources that can help students connect with experts, he also includes resources to help students publish online books, make maps, and share their stories.
USING SCORING GUIDES AND RUBRICS
A scoring guide is a list of requirements that are assigned a specific point value. An example of a scoring guide is given in Figure 5.3: Example of PBL Scoring Guide—Restaurant Project. This scoring guide lists every required item with a small description and assigned point value.
A rubric outlines different levels of criteria for different scores. An example of a rubric can be found in Figure 5.4: Example of PBL Rubric—Location of the Next Wind Farm in the U.S.
Teacher-Initiated Projects
Creating a scoring guide or rubric is the last task we do in our planning prior to introducing the activity to students.
Regardless of the final project that students will turn in, they need a scoring guide or rubric beforehand so they know what is expected of them and how they will be graded.
When we make the scoring guide or rubric, we want to ensure that students understand the assignment's expectations. We accomplish this by first providing every student a hard copy when first introducing the PBL activity. Then we ask them to read it silently, underlining the action verbs because these are the words that communicate what students must do. We model this by going through the first item on the scoring guide or rubric. Using the example in Figure 5.3, we read the first item aloud and explain why we would underline the words “provide” and “advertise.” Then students are given 3–5 minutes, depending on their age and the length of the scoring guide, to work independently to underline the remaining action verbs. Afterwards they share their answers with a partner. If their answers differ, they work together to decide which words to underline.
To ensure the entire class has the correct answers, we project a copy of the scoring guide or rubric on the board. We randomly choose a student and their learning partner to go to the board and underline the action verbs in the first task. When they are done, another pair is randomly chosen to underline the action verbs in the next task. This continues until all of the tasks have been underlined. At that time, the class is asked if there are any disagreements, at which time we have a class discussion regarding any incorrect answers. To help students feel comfortable, we insist that learning partners go to the board together.
If the final product is an essay or business letter, the final component of the project is always an authentic presentation. If an actual person is not coming in for a presentation, sometimes this written work can be sent to the “audience” for feedback. For example, if business members are not able to come to the school, letters can be mailed to them. However, if community members are available for an oral presentation, students can turn their written work into a presentation format. See the Giving Authentic Presentations section for examples.
Student-Initiated Projects
Once students have chosen their presentation type, we walk older students through a class discussion to create a scoring guide or rubric. We provide them with several examples of each and then work with them to create one common tool that will be used to assess their learning and presentation. See Figure 5.3: Example of PBL Scoring Guide—Restaurant Project for an example of a scoring guide and Figure 5.4: Example of PBL Rubric—Location of the Next Wind Farm in the United States for an example of a rubric. When we work with younger students, we make the scoring guide or rubric for them.
Teacher- and Student-Initiated Projects
If presentations will be shared with the whole class, we ask that students provide each other with feedback. We give each student a copy of Figure 5.5: Peer Presentation Evaluation. As their peers are presenting, students complete the evaluation handout and when the presentation is complete, we collect all of the handouts to give to the presenters.
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IDEAS
Table 5.1: PBL Projects for the NGSS Disciplines includes a list of example projects for each of the four disciplines in the NGSS. There are also resources in the Technology Connections section that provide additional project ideas.
Table 5.1 PBL Projects for the NGSS Disciplines
| NGSS discipline | PBL project idea | Crosscutting concept from the NGSS |
| Earth and space sciences | Plan and develop a structure where people can live, work, and play on Mars. Students make models using recycled materials. | Systems and system models |
| Earth and space sciences | Build model rockets to fly the highest, altering one variable, such as the shape or size of the nose cone. | Systems and system models |
| Physical sciences | Create a process or technology that would prevent the deterioration of outside structures that are degraded by such things as acid rain. | Cause and effect: Mechanisms and explanation |
| Physical sciences | Design a mechanism to keep the Thanksgiving turkey warm throughout the family gathering. | Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation |
| Physical sciences | Create one new game that can be played with various sizes of balls, from beads to bowling balls. | Scale, probability, and quantity |
| Physical sciences | Analyze the evidence gathered from a car accident to create an improved vehicle design that would minimize the damage to the vehicle, passengers, and/or external structures. | Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation |
| Life sciences (can integrate physical sciences) | Redesign a safety resource currently used in a sport (helmet, pads, shin guards, etc.) that would better protect the body and/or improve its comfort. | Structure and function |
| Life sciences | Analyze how the current laws regarding animal treatment affect the societal, political, and financial aspects of the pet or food industry. | Cause and effect |
| Technology, engineering, and applications of science (can integrate life sciences) | Create or improve a technology that is inspired by patterns in nature or improve a current technology based on a natural pattern (biomimicry). | Patterns |
| Technology, engineering, and applications of science (can integrate life sciences and earth and space sciences) | Develop a technology or process that helps the human body adapt to a warmer Earth. | Structure and function |
DIFFERENTIATION FOR DIVERSE LEARNERS
Some students may require accommodations as they work through a PBL activity. In this instance, we help group members divide the work as they complete Figure 5.1: Example of PBL Task Manager—Carbon Footprint of a Restaurant. We strategically give English language learners tasks that can be solved with video research because many online videos have closed captioning available and some are available in languages other than English. We may give some students more time to complete a task. In addition, we may ask another student in the same PBL group to help one of their partners.
Student Handouts and Examples
- Figure 5.1: Example of PBL Task Manager—Carbon Footprint of a Restaurant (Student Handout)
- Figure 5.2: Blank PBL Task Manager (Student Handout)
- Figure 5.3: Example of PBL Scoring Guide—Restaurant Project (Student Handout)
- Figure 5.4: Example of PBL Rubric—Location of the Next Wind Farm in the United States (Student Handout)
- Figure 5.5: Peer Presentation Evaluation (Student Handout)
What Could Go Wrong?
When students work in groups, the most common struggle is off-task behavior. This often manifests itself in two ways. Either the entire group falls behind or one group member completes the majority of the work. To proactively prevent off-task behavior, we use Figure 5.1: Example of PBL Task Manager—Carbon Footprint of a Restaurant to ensure every student is completing their assigned tasks on time. We've found that a student is more likely to be off-task when they become frustrated that they can't complete a task; therefore, we begin conversations with the student by asking them, “Where are you stuck?” This open-ended question often identifies the problem immediately so that we can provide additional resources or help the student brainstorm solutions. We remain with that student until they are actively working once again and always return to them a few minutes later to ensure they are still productive.
When students are first exposed to PBL, some are uncomfortable that there is no right or wrong answer. They are stifled by this and feel as though they lack direction. We solve this problem by going through the scoring guide or rubric with these students, step-by-step. We point out that the scoring guide or rubric doesn't require them to identify a correct answer but instead requires that they justify why they believe their answer is correct. For example, in Figure 5.2: Example of PBL Scoring Guide—Restaurant Project students are required to explain their answers but also include footnotes as evidence that their explanations are based on facts. And Figure 5.3: Example of PBL Rubric—Location of the Next Wind Farm in the United States requires students to explain their answers, which is how we assess them.
Technology Connections
There are many online resources that provide PBL ideas. PBLWorks (https://www.pblworks.org/get-started) offers onsite training, books, and teaching videos to help teachers of all experience levels.
Samantha Kotey, a technology and learning researcher, offers many unique presentation types in her blog, “20 Best Online Presentation Tools for Students,” which can be read at (https://www.codemom.ai/2017/01/15-best-online-presentation-tools-for-students).
Education World has tips and ideas at “Project-Based Learning: Tips and Project Ideas” (https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/project-based-learning-tips-ideas.shtml).
“Problem and Project-Based Learning Activities” (http://www.mrsoshouse.com/pbl/pblin.html) contains a list of both science and social studies ideas.
There are science and math PBL resources available at “21st Century Educational Technology and Learning” (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/the-pbl-super-highway-over-45-links-to-great-project-based-learning).
The University of Delaware offers many free PBL resources, including project ideas (http://www1.udel.edu/inst).
Attributions
Thank you to Jeff Sesemann, who gave us the ideas for some of the physical sciences PBL activities. We appreciate the creativity he brings into his classroom and his willingness to share with other teachers
Figures
| To Do List | Task Deadline | Student Assigned to Task | Teacher Comments |
| Choose the restaurant to be researched | Monday | Everyone | |
| Identify the local chain's address, phone number, manager name, and manager email | Monday | ||
| Identify the supply companies, including their warehouse addresses | Wednesday | ||
| Identify the trucks used by each supply company | Thursday | ||
| Calculate the mileage driven and carbon dioxide emitted by each supply company roundtrip from warehouse to restaurant | Thursday | ||
| Identify current (if any) recycling efforts made by the chain | Wednesday | ||
| Contact the restaurant's corporate headquarters to notify them of your project and ask for their support in helping the environment | Wednesday |
Figure 5.1 Example of Project-Based Learning Task Manager—Carbon Footprint of a Restaurant (Student Handout)
| To Do List | Task Deadline | Student Assigned to Task | Teacher Comments |
Figure 5.2 Blank Project-Based Learning Task Manager (Student Handout)
Figure 5.3 Example of PBL Scoring Guide—Restaurant Project (Student Handout)
| # | 0 - Missing | 1 - You may have tried | 2 - You made a concerted effort | 3 - You were amazeballs! | Score |
| Business Letter Format | Did not follow business letter format. | Followed the business letter format a little bit. | Followed the business letter format the majority of the time. | Followed the business letter format for the entire letter. It was perfect! | 25% |
| Benefits of the location you chose | There is no explanation of why this location was chosen. | The explanation was attempted but it was missing crucial parts. | The explanation included all necessary details regarding why this location was chosen. | The explanation went above and beyond, explaining why this location was chosen. | 25% |
| Mitigating drawbacks for your chosen location | There was no mention of how you would mitigate any of the drawbacks. | There was a plan for mitigating the bird migration problem. | There was a plan for mitigating the bird migration problem in addition to one additional problem. | There was a plan for mitigating the bird migration problem in addition to two additional problems. | 25% |
| Compare to the two locations you didn't choose | There is no mention of the other two locations. | The other two locations are mentioned minimally. | The other two locations are mentioned and there is an explanation that addresses why one of them wasn’t chosen. | The other two locations are mentioned and there is an explanation that addresses why neither of them were chosen. | 25% |
| Total Score: |
Figure 5.4 Example of PBL Rubric—Location of the Next Wind Farm in the United States (Student Handout)
Figure 5.5 Peer Presentation Evaluation (Student Handout)
Source: Adapted and republished with permission from Larry Ferlazzo based on the form he created and featured on his blog, https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2014/11/20/heres-the-form-i-have-students-complete-when-theyre-listening-to-their-classmates-presentations/comment-page-1/