Project-Based Learning Prompts

Project-Based Learning is a dynamic classroom approach that allows learners to acquire deep knowledge through active exploration of real-world problems and challenges.

The following series of fill-in-the-blank prompts can be used by students to design and create their own projects. The  prompts are most effective when coupled with a technology component –- social media channels, blogs, audio/visual apps and other digital tools -- that can help develop, organize and present information and ideas.
 
EXAMPLES: Clarify racism in the US for high school students in India. Design a compelling eBook using a smartphone app. Change a local business owner’s mind about hiring felons. Compare the force of a tsunami with a nuclear bomb. Theorize what Emily Dickinson would say about Twitter.

40 Fill-in-the-Blank PBL Prompts

1. Clarify… for an audience of...
2. Stylize… without changing…
3. Illuminate…
4. Solve…. together with….
5. Rethink….by…
6. Learn to….using…
7. Repackage…for…
8. Identify what’s implied in…
9. Design a ….using…
10. Make a…with…
11. Find the best evidence that supports…
12. Find a better/smarter/faster/safer way to…
13. Simplify….for….
14. Explain how others misunderstand…
15. Narrate the sequence of…
16. Change…’s mind about…
17. Socialize your opinion on…and refine or clarify it based on feedback.
18. Explain the significance of….by….
19. Contextualize the history of….
20. Explore and curate the history of…
21. Document…for the purpose of…
22. Document how…was able to…
23. Digitize…so that….
24. Find another way to solve…
25. Turn the problem of…into a manageable project
26. Practice…until you can…
27. Honor the complexity of…by…
28. Debate the merit of…compared to…
29. Collaborate with…in order to…
30. Restore…
31. Identify and elegantly demonstrate the sources of…
32. Find the patterns in…
33. Analyze…through a series of questions.
34. Identify analogous situations compared to…
35. Iterate…in light of…
36. Untangle the causes from the effects of…
37. Contrast…and…
38. See…from the perspective of…
39. Merge the thinking of…and…
40. Theorize what…would say about…

 Terry Heick, 10/2014

TeachThought.com

Time Capsule

Get boxes for each member of the group. If you choose, you can decorate the boxes in the group or outside of group time. Tell the kids to pretend these boxes are time capsules that will be buried for 100 years. When they are dug up, people will know about them only from the items in the capsule and the way they are decorated. Instruct the kids to fill the capsule with items that describe/show who they are, where they came from or how they feel. Items can include pictures, toys, etc. They can do this over the week then show and discuss with the group the items in each member's box and why they included them.

Purpose

To get students to think about who they are, things that are important to them, and things that have made them who they are. Also, to get students thinking about how they want others to see them.

Goals

To get students to share pieces of themselves, their values and their culture with other members of the group. For other students to show an interest in lives of their group members and to be supportive of the sharing and self-disclosure that goes on.

The rationale behind this activity is that students of other cultures spend a lot of time trying to fit in with the majority and often are not encouraged to share aspects of their culture that they are proud of. This gives them the opportunity to be proud of themselves and their heritage. They are the experts on this subject and are being encouraged to share. I think this will work because it is presented in a fun, futuristic, "let's pretend" manner, but they get to share items that represent themselves.