Project-Based Learning (PBL) is an instructional model which teaches and reinforces academic, career-technical and employment-preparation skills in a context that engages students and makes them participate in their own learning and assessment. Skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication are tracked and recorded in detail by the teacher and/or students by using detailed SCANS checklist sheets. The SCANS (from a report created by the US Departments of Labor and Education) are the skills and competencies required for people to be successful in the real world of work.
The objective of the Professional Development for teachers is to clearly define Project Based Learning and explain how it will help to better prepare our students. Any context can be taught via the PBL model, in that it organizes learning around the completion of complex tasks and ongoing formative assessments. PBL, by teaching skills that are not ordinarily addressed in traditional instruction, effectively makes the connection for students between academic instruction and what are often thought of as work-readiness or “soft skills.”