Many students think of history as a subject that explains the past with little application to the present or life

today. Because they are unable to relate history to their own lives and present experience, they are perhaps
more likely to see the subject as "boring." However, historians are active seekers of primary sources, which
allow students of history to experience moments from the past in an active and present sense. Teaching
students to become historians begins with teaching students how historians actually think about history,
which is often based on finding and interpreting primary sources, and then formulating opinions about
history.

Becoming Historians: A Project-Based Learning Curriculum was developed for educators to teach their
students historical thinking skills such as connecting, analyzing and applying. By acquiring historical
thinking skills, students will learn both the content of history and transfer those skills in order to be effective
citizens in society. The overall goals of the curriculum are for students to learn how to think historically
about a topic through connecting a historical figure's actions to a historical time period, analyzing the
causes and effects of a historical figure's actions and applying a historical figures actions to the world today,
while collaboratively engaged in a project-based research project.

Becoming Historians was implemented in a fifth grade multiple subject classroom. Data from research
reports, poster board projects, world exploration essays, observations and field notes were analyzed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum.

The results indicate that students become motivated, work collaboratively and learn how to think historically
when immersed in an inquiry-based project that incorporates graphic organizers and explicit modeling.
Becoming Historians assists teachers to teach history in an engaging and interactive way that helps
students learn important thinking skills such as connecting, analyzing and applying concepts that they can
use in history as well as in their lives.

What is PBL? Definition from the Autodesk Foundation

We believe that PBL is at the heart of good instruction because it brings together intellectual inquiry,
rigorous real-world standards, and student engagement in relevant and meaningful work. It is a
comprehensive instructional model in which project work is central to student understanding of the
essential concepts and principles of the disciplines. Well-crafted projects:

• Engage and build on student interests and passions

• Provide a meaningful and authentic context for learning
• Immerse students in complex, real-world problems/investigations without a pre-determined
solution
• Allow students to take the lead, making critical choices and decisions
• Connect students with community resources and experts
• Require students to develop and demonstrate essential skills and knowledge
• Draw on multiple disciplines to solve problems and deepen understanding
• Build in opportunities for reflection and self-assessment
• Result in useful products that demonstrate what students have learned
• Culminate in exhibitions or presentations to an authentic audience

Project Sites
Teaching Students to Think Pages 80-82

Project-Based Learning
Jane L. David
In this new column, Jane L. David shares with readers what research says about the
effectiveness of current education reforms.
In the coming months, David will examine the research behind such approaches as
retention in grade, incentives to attract teachers to high-poverty schools, and small
learning communities. In framing the issues and drawing conclusions, she will draw on
 articles from peer-reviewed journals and reports from research institutions as well as
her own 35 years of experience studying schools and districts.
We welcome readers' comments at edleadership@ascd.org.

Whether students investigate what happens to their family's garbage or design an entire city, project-based
learning aims to engage them in realistic, thought-provoking problems.

What's the Idea?

The core idea of project-based learning is that real-world problems capture students' interest and provoke serious
thinking as the students acquire and apply new knowledge in a problem-solving context. The teacher plays the
role of facilitator, working with students to frame worthwhile questions, structuring meaningful tasks, coaching
both knowledge development and social skills, and carefully assessing what students have learned from the
experience. Advocates assert that project-based learning helps prepare students for the thinking and
collaboration skills required in the workplace.

Project-based learning creates opportunities for groups of students to investigate meaningful questions that
require them to gather information and think critically. Typical projects present a problem to solve (How can we
reduce the pollution in the schoolyard pond?); a phenomenon to investigate (Why do you stay on your
skateboard?); a model to design (Create a scale model of an ideal high school); or a decision to make (Should the
school board vote to build a new school?).

What's the Reality?

Although projects are the primary vehicle for instruction in project-based learning, there are no commonly shared
criteria for what constitutes an acceptable project. Projects vary greatly in the depth of the questions explored, the
clarity of the learning goals, the content and structure of the activity, and guidance from the teacher. The role of
projects in the overall curriculum is also open to interpretation. Projects can guide the entire curriculum (more
common in charter or other alternative schools) or simply comprise a few scattered hands-on activities. They
might be multidisciplinary (more likely in elementary schools) or single-subject (commonly science and math).
Some are whole class, others small group, and some individual.

Fully realized project-based teaching has never been widespread in mainstream public schooling. Teachers have
little training or experience in the approach. Moreover, the time demands of projects, especially in today's context
of standards, high-stakes tests, and pacing guides, understandably discourage many teachers from venturing into
the kinds of collaborative student investigations that form the foundation of project-based learning. Because
teachers tend to find this approach difficult to implement with low-performing students and may lack supporting
technology, it is less likely to be embraced in high-poverty schools, which could increase rather than lessen
existing inequities.

What's the Research?

The broad and varied definitions of project-based learning make it difficult to identify a distinct body of research on
its practice. In fact, only a few studies have measured the effects of project-based learning on student
achievement.

Boaler (2002) compared student mathematics achievement in two similar British secondary schools, one using
traditional instruction and the other using project-based instruction. After three years, students in the project-
based-learning school significantly outperformed the traditional-school students in mathematics skills as well as
conceptual and applied knowledge. In fact, in the project-based-learning school, three times as many students
passed the national exam.

The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt University (1992) evaluated the effects of a series of video-
based adventure simulations it developed. "The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury" provides a structure for
students to work collaboratively on simulated real-world problems that require applying mathematical knowledge
and reasoning. Compared with a control group, students who used the Vanderbilt series scored higher in solving
word problems and in planning. On tests of basic math concepts, both groups scored the same.

Beyond academic outcomes, the Boaler and Vanderbilt studies both found that experience with projects reduced
student math anxiety and resulted in more positive attitudes toward math. Boaler also found positive effects on
equity: The link between performance and student economic level disappeared in the project-based school and
increased in the traditional school.

In his comprehensive review of the limited research on project-based learning, Thomas (2000) found some
evidence that this approach enhances the quality of student learning compared with other instructional methods.
He also cited evidence that project-based learning is effective for teaching processes such as problem solving
and decision making, but much of this research lacked comparisons with other methods.

The handful of studies that have measured the effects of project-based learning have looked at programs that
were more well developed than the vast majority of projects created and carried out by individual teachers.
Research on these more typical versions of project-based learning has not focused on the results but instead has
shed light on the challenges of implementing this practice in classrooms.

Marx, Blumenfeld, Krajcik, and Soloway (1997) documented several challenges teachers face in implementing
projects. Among these are the length of class periods and the pressure to cover curriculum topics. Because
inquiry-based projects take more time than teacher-centered instruction does, their use raises the perennial
question of breadth versus depth. Teachers also need skill in managing multiple activities. Many projects use
technology—for example, to provide simulations, opportunities for Internet research, or collaboration with others
in a remote location—which makes additional demands on the teacher.

To use project-based learning effectively, teachers must fully understand the concepts embedded in their projects
and be able to model thinking and problem-solving strategies effectively (Blumenfeld et al., 1991). Worthwhile
projects require challenging questions that can support collaboration, as well as methods of measuring the
intended learning outcomes. Without carefully designed tasks, skilled teachers, and school conditions that support
projects, project-based learning can devolve into a string of activities with no clear purpose or outcome.

What's One to Do?

These studies suggest that project-based learning, when fully realized, can improve student learning. However,
the research also underscores how difficult it is to implement project-based learning well. Together these findings
suggest caution in embracing this practice unless the conditions for success are in place, including strong school
support, access to well-developed projects, and a collaborative culture for teachers and students.

Yet, teachers can use the key ideas underlying project-based learning in some measure in any classroom. Using
real-life problems to motivate students, challenging them to think deeply about meaningful content, and enabling
them to work collaboratively are practices that yield benefits for all students.

References
Blumenfeld, P., Soloway, E., Marx, R., Krajcik, J., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A. (1991).
Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning.
Educational Psychologist, 26(3, 4), 369–398.

Boaler, J. (2002). Learning from teaching: Exploring the relationship between reform
curriculum and equity. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 33(4), 239–258.

Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. (1992). The Jasper Series as an example
of anchored instruction: Theory, program description, and assessment data. Educational
Psychologist, 27(3), 291–315.

Marx, R. W., Blumenfeld, P. C., Krajcik, J. S., & Soloway, E. (1997). Enacting project-
based science: Challenges for practice and policy. Elementary School Journal, 97(4)
341–358.
Thomas, J. W. (2000). A review of research on project-based learning. San Rafael, CA:
Autodesk Foundation.