Project-based learning is evolving with the need for growth mindset and character strengths to drive exploration, inquiry and collaborative problem solving, writes THOM MARKHAM.

In our digitised world, change arrives not through observable cause and effect, as in the days of Newton, but through field-like, quantum shifts that suddenly reveal themselves. What was hidden a moment ago is now obvious.

This is the case with project-based learning (PBL). Ten years ago, PBL was regarded as a breakthrough, a method for organising problem solving and inquiry in the classroom. In the process, students blended academic work with authentic learning. They practiced real-world skills such as collaboration and communication and became more deeply engaged in their education. PBL still offers those benefits. When done well, it yields a far better experience for students than traditional instruction. Globally, PBL is increasingly popular. And there is a reason: The transmission model of learning is dead. The future of education revolves around exploration, questioning, inquiry, and the application of communal knowledge to solve meaningful problems. PBL is intended for this purpose. It won’t go away.

However, PBL needs a makeover. It will not survive in its present form as an alternative method for teaching information and content.

Project based learning origins

PBL began in the 1960s in medical schools in Canada and the Netherlands. Known as “problem-based learning” it was a case-based approach to helping prospective doctors learn to diagnose patients. Reading medical textbooks had not proved effective, so practitioners turned people with symptoms into ‘cases’ that were discussed by an audience of students, who used questioning to narrow down the diagnosis together. The objective was to train more sensitive, relationship-driven doctors. And, it worked. Sixty percent of medical schools still use this approach.

But a backstory also exists. In the early 1960s, the human potential movement arrived full force, fuelled by the deep cultural shift of those times and by psychologists such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. This was not just a rebellion against the conformity and norms of the 1950s; the human potential movement sought to redefine human strengths and focus on the internal capacities that enable people to succeed and grow in life.

The early PBL educators were deeply influenced by the human potential conversation. That movement also lives on. Both Maslow and Rogers are considered the forefathers of the positive psychology movement today—a wing of psychology highlighting grit, the growth mindset and strengths such as curiosity, creativity and empathy as keys to quality 21st-century education. When using the PBL model students move in this direction. They grow and mature into better people, discover the joy of learning, experience the deep satisfaction of mastery and feel deeply engaged in their education. They change. As they engage the process of learning, they tap a deeper, more personal level where character and strengths linger until revealed by context and circumstance.

Strengths-based PBL

Can education rethink PBL and see it as a human development process that integrates emotional growth and problem-solving? Yes. I call it strengths-based PBL or people-based learning. This approach designs projects with the intention to dig into the process of social emotional growth. It’s common among PBL advocates to say that the 'process is the product'. Now the process is directly tied to personal growth—to making strengths and challenges visible to the student for reflection and to the teacher for mentoring.

How strengths-based PBL can be applied in the design process

  • Have students begin a project by conducting an inventory of their strengths, challenges and immediate goals for growth.
  • Connect each element of the project design to personal strengths: understanding a challenge requires curiosity; answering a driving question requires persistence and close observation; teamwork requires empathy; designing solutions requires respectful communication and feedback; presenting findings requires self-confidence.
  • In every project, include journaling or a portfolio approach, with opportunity for reflection on emotional growth. Add to the journals over the semester to encourage growth over time.
  • As much as possible, use student-friendly tools such as single point rubrics, peer to peer discussion and reflection and performance rubrics that include a blank breakthrough or ‘wow’ column to encourage and reward student innovation and creativity.
  • Make full use of the opportunity provided by student teams in PBL by having students practice deep skills of empathy, listening, respect and curiosity—and build that into the teamwork assessment.
  • Redefine the teacher role as both mentor and co-learner, including using proven coaching protocols that structure the teacher-student relationship around deep listening and attentive observation to a student’s emotional concerns.

Teachers across the globe are developing approaches and methods that promote positive emotional growth. Now it’s time to integrate those approaches with inquiry-based projects. 

This article is an excerpt from The Learning Council.