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The information contained on this Website draws directly from the Project Based Learning Handbook developed by the Buck Institute for Education (BIE).

Read more about the handbook at http://www.bie.org/pbl/pblhandbook/index.php

The following excerpt was taken from the handbook: Project Based Learning: A Guide to Standards-Focused Project Based Learning for Middle and High School Teachers, 2003.

"BIE's goal is to establish standards-focused PBL as a central strategy by which specific curricular goals and standards can be attained. In other words, we have not written the Handbook to help teachers "do projects." Projects are too often the students' reward for learning in traditional ways -- they are the "icing" rather than the "cake." For example, after lecturing about the parts of the Constitution in a government or social studies class and assigning textbook reading for homework, a teacher might break students into groups and ask them to write a constitution for a new lunar settlement. In this case, the project follows the learning as dessert follows the main course. This lunar constitution assignment could be an interesting and challenging project, but it does not fall within our understanding of PBL. For u, PBL is the central framework upon which the teaching and learning of core concepts can be built, not a supplementary enrichment activity to be undertaken after the hard work of learning in done."

For a complete history and description of PBL, visit the Buck Institute for Education: http://www.bie.org/pbl/pblhandbook/intro.php

The Buck Institute for Education and Boise State University, Department of Educational Technology

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