Photo: LucasResearch.org
By Amber Graeber, The 74
How principals and teachers can expand and adapt high-quality project-based curricula to meet their needs, and those of their students
In my Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics classroom, students take on the role of attorneys and argue a Supreme Court case in front of student justices and an actual judge from the Iowa Circuit Court of Appeals. They also work together to run mock political campaigns, while their peers report on the election as journalists. And they design political action plans for an interest group focused on immigration policy. In 15 years of teaching this way — with project-based learning at the heart of my instruction — I’ve seen how each of these experiences increases student engagement and achievement.
I use project-based learning as my primary instructional approach because it makes the classroom experience more relevant, more authentic, more effective and frankly, more fun…
