This week, we explored an alternative model of learning through the film “Most Likely to Succeed”, which followed students from High Tech High through long term, interdisciplinary, and challenging projects.

I had some experience with project based learning in high school where I had the opportunity to put together some mock elections and host local prospective members of parliament at an even for students. This was an incredibly valuable experience, but was done through a class outside of the regular school timetable so the vast majority of students did not have the same opportunity.

Something that I wanted to know more about was the difference between simply doing projects and project based learning. I was able to find a video that provided an excellent breakdown of the differences. In particular, it explained that regular projects are most often used to reflect on what has already been learned, whereas project-based learning positions the project itself as the primary learning experience.

I am super excited about project based learning, not only in terms of its potential to help students explore ideas on a deeper level, but also in terms of its potential to teach other skills like team management.