Module 2 - Aligning Projects with Assessment Standards
Considering an Idea for Your project
Well-designed projects tie content understanding, real-world contexts, and enduring ideas together. Projects that incorporate authentic tasks help learners find answers to important questions in meaningful ways.
Learners of all ages are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use that information to do something that has an impact on others—especially their local community (McCombs, 1996; Pintrich and Schunk, 1996). - National Research Council, How People Learn |
Projects can vary widely in subject matter and scope, and can be delivered at a wide range of grade levels. Projects grow out of challenging questions that cannot be answered by rote learning. Projects serve specific, significant educational goals; they are not diversions or add-ons to the "real” curriculum.
Classrooms that use projects encompass varied teaching and learning strategies to engage all learners, regardless of their learning style. Often learners collaborate with outside experts and community members to answer questions and gain deeper meaning of the content. ICT supports learning, and throughout project work, multiple types of assessment are embedded to ensure that learners produce high-quality work.
