PBL Examples of Science Lesson Ideas

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The JASON Project

In my last blog post, I provided links to dozens of  PBL math projects.  Today I'll provide links to PBL science lessons.  Again, there are many sources of ideas.  This list, of course, is not all-inclusive.  But the objective is to make it easier to find a project.

As with math, the projects are often cross-curricular and incorporate STEM - science, technology, engineering and math.  For more background, read my post on Project Based Learning Lesson Plans.  Projects at some websites, such as iEARN, ePals, and CIESE, involve collaboration with other classes around the country or around the world.

**  Free registration is required to obtain project details at: CASES Online, PBL Online, ePals, and Take Action Curriculum.


Earth Sciences
CIESE - Environmental projects - water, soil, sun - 6 projects - grades 1-12
** CASES Online - Earth Science - 24 projects - grades 6-12
** CASES Online - Environmental Science - 10 projects - grades 9-12
** ePals - Collaboration with other Schools - 5 projects - grades 1-8
JASON Project - Earth and Environment - 4 projects - grades 6-8
My Science Box - Ecology Box - ecosystems, habitat, water & soil - grades 3-12
My Science Box - Geology Box - 19 projects - grades 3-12
My Science Box - Watersheds Box - watersheds, wetlands, bay - grades 3-12
My Science Box - Plate Tectonics Box - grades K-12
** PBL Online - Down the Drain - water cycle, environment - grades 9-12
** PBL Online - Am I Too Hot for You? - climate change debate - grades 9-12

Life Sciences
CIESE - Human Genetics - on-line collaboration  until June 2011 - grades 6-12
** CASES Online - Anatomy/Physiology - 14 projects - grades 9-12
** CASES Online - Biology - 51 projects - grades 9-12
** CASES Online - Health Science - 11 projects - grades 6-12
** CASES Online - Life Science - 19 projects - grades 6-12
** CASES Online - Microbiology - 3 projects - grades 9-12
High Tech High - San Diego Bay Field Guide - better stewards of bay - grade 11
My Science Box - Genetics & Evolution Box -  grades K-12
My Science Box - Physiology Box - biology, plants, animals - grades K-12
** PBL Online - Hard Body, Perfect Brain - physiology, drugs - grades 9-12
Project Approach - Project Examples - bugs, animals, health - preK-K
Project Approach - Project  Examples - trees, health - grades 1-4
Salvadori Center - Your Body, A Building - grades 1-5


Space Sciences
NASA - Outreach Projects - 11 projects - grades 3-12
** PBL Online - One World, One Home - solar system, Earth - grades 9-12

Chemistry
** CASES Online - Chemistry - 42 projects - grades 6-12
High Tech High - Drug Movie - impact of drugs on people & society - grade 10
Teach 21 - Chemistry Projects - 2 projects - grades 9-12


Engineering & Architecture

• CIESE - Engineering projects - some have real-time collaboration & start in Feb - 16 projects - grades preK-12 
• F.L. Wright Preservation Trust - Architect Studio 3D - grades 7-12
• High Tech High - This New House - design environmentally friendly home - grades 9-12
• High Tech High - Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - construct an electrical product - grade 9
• Salvadori Center - Science Curriculum - building systems - grades K-5

Physics
** CASES Online - Physics - 40 projects - grades 9-12
Teach 21 - Physics Projects - 3 projects - grades 9-12
APlusPhysics - Physics Projects - 6 projects - grades 9-12


Physical Science
** CASES Online - Physical Science - 21 projects - grades 6-12
HOO - Hands-on Optics - lasers, light, magnification - grade 1-8
Project 21 - Physical Science - 5 projects - grades 6-12


Technology
** CASES Online - Science, Technology & Society - 1 project - grades 9-12
High Tech High - Today's Machines - ancient technologies - grades 9-12
Indiana U. - Molecules Matter - applied nanoscience - grades 9-12



Other
** CASES Online - Scientific Method - 4 projects - grades 6-12
Intel PBL - All sciences - 45 projects - grades 3-12
iEARN - Science projects - mostly environmental - 11 projects - grades K-12
** PBL Online - Science projects - 27 projects - K-12
** Take Action Curriculum - Take Action Science Projects - grades 6-12
Teach 21 - All sciences by grade level - 32 projects - grades K-12


For a more complete listing of websites with PBL background, advice, lesson plan templates, and assessment and evaluation tools, look at the LearningReviews.com Project Based Learning directory.

PBL Social Studies Project Ideas

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SLICE Service Learning Toolkit

  Building on my previous blog posts of PBL examples of science projects and math projects, today I'll provide some links to websites with social studies project ideas.  Project-based learning in social studies is often integrated with math, science, visual and performing arts and, of course, language arts.

When using these PBL examples to create your own project-based lessons, you may need a PBL lesson planning template.  West Virginia's Department of Education site, Teach 21, has an excellent PBL Template in their PBL Tools.  Look for the WVDE Template for Project Based Learning Design.

** PBL Online requires free registration to see project details.

Teach 21 PBL - Social Studies projects - 61 projects - grades K-12
Intel PBL - Social Studies projects -  21 projects - grades 3-12
ePals - Social studies projects - 3 projects - grades K-6
Global Schoolhouse - Social studies projects - 3 current projects - grades K-12
High Tech High - The Vietnam Experience - grades 9-12
iEARN - Social Studies projects - 41 projects - grades K-12
** PBL Online - Social Studies projects - 10 projects - grades 6-12
Duke School - North Carolina Folk Life - grade 4
Envision School - Project Exchange - 9 projects - grades 9-12
Thinkfinity - Afterschool - 5 projects - grades K-12
Center for Civic Education - We the People: Project Citizen - grades 6-12
What Kids Can Do - Lights, Camera... Leadership - document local issue - grades 6-12
ERIC - Tell Us How It Was: Stories of Rural Elders Preserved by Rural Youth - grades 9-12
Salvadori Center - Salvadori Curriculum - 7 projects - grades K-6
SLICE - Comunity Service Learning Projects - 200+ projects - grades K-12
Go for Broke - Military Intelligence & Pearl Harbor - 2 projects - grades 9-12
Central York High - Mixing Art & Politics - public policy & political messages - grades 9-12
Manor New Tech High - The Hunger Games Project - world history - grades 9-12


For a more complete listing of websites with PBL background, advice, lesson plan templates, and assessment and evaluation tools, look at the LearningReviews.com Project Based Learning directory.

Project Based Learning Language Arts Projects

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Continuing on with PBL lesson ideas, here are links to dozens of language arts projects from websites that specialize in PBL.  In previous posts, I provided links to math projects, PBL science lesson ideas, and social studies projects.  I would suggest taking a look at the projects in these other subjects as well, because virtually all of them include language arts elements.

The projects listed below have been labeled as primarily language arts projects by the providers.

** Free registration is required to view complete project details at ePals and PBL Online.

Elementary School Projects

** ePals - Digital Story Telling - children write stories & share them with students around the world
GlobalSchoolNet - Projects with deadlines - Flat Stanley & Salute to Dr. Seuss
iEARN - Language Arts/Reading/Writing - 14 projects
** PBL Online - Language Arts Projects - 9 projects
Salvadori School - Language Arts Projects - 5 projects
SLICE - We Care About Fire Safety - grade 2
Teach 21 - Reading and Language Arts -  9 projects - grades 2-5

Middle School Projects

iEARN - Language Arts/Reading/Writing - 16 projects
** PBL Online - Language Arts Projects -  8 projects
Teach 21 - Reading and Language Arts - 18 projects

High School Projects

iEARN - Language Arts/Reading/Writing - 16 projects
** PBL Online - Language Arts Projects - 9 projects
** PBL Online - Foreign Languages - 2 projects
Envision School - Project Exchange - 15 projects
ReadWriteThink - Teens Create Books for Children
Teach 21 - Reading and Language Arts - 19 projects
Central York High - George Segal Meets the One Act Play - combining art with playwriting
CA Favier - Short Film for English Language Learners or Foreign Language Students
Bianca Hewes - Why do emos write poetry? - demonstrates 8 core elements of PBL

All Grade Levels

Intel PBL - Language Arts Projects - 13 projects
SLICE - Service Learning Projects - some of the 400+ projects are Language Arts, but are not organized by subject area


There are several excellent general resources on implementing project based learning.  They provide guidance on planning, assessments, rubrics for evaluation, and professional development sources.  Read my post on Project Based Learning Lesson Plans to learn more.

BBC Math Games for Kids, Skills for Teens

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BBC Maths is a British interactive math website designed to help kids learn and practice K-12 math skills.  No, I did not misspell "Maths".  That is the British word for "math".  Whatever way you say it - math or maths - it's still one of the best comprehensive websites out there for students of any country to review (or "revise", as the British say) math concepts.  There are four parts to BBC Maths that are described in more detail below. 

BBC Maths Schools KS1 - Higher Bitesize (K-12)

BBC Math Games for K-2

 KS1 Bitesize Games is for kids in early elementary (K-2) classes.  It helps them learn numeracy - number sense and operations - skills. These includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, telling time, money (using British currency), number sequences, place value, measurements, 2D and 3D shapes, and organizing data. The child selects a skill and difficulty level. Then let the games begin! There is also a printable worksheet for each activity.

KS2 Bitesize is for kids in grades 3-5. The math skills on this site include higher level numeracy skills, fractions, patterns, and simple percentages, shapes, data, and measurements and space.

Each skill has three parts. The first is a read explains a concept, such as decimals. The second part is an activity or game that helps the student practice the skill. The third part is a short interactive quiz to assess the student's mastery of the skill.

For teachers, there are accompanying lesson plans.  Also each activity includes flash code that you can copy and paste into you website or blog, so that your students can use it from your website.   Here's an example:



Secondary Maths is for middle and high school students (roughly grades 6-10). The focus is on skills in advanced numeracy, including order of operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, and exponents. The site builds on skills in geometry, including measurements, shapes and space.  And it introduces algebra forumulas, inequalities, equations, coordinates, graphs and sequences.  To help students master these skills, there are activities in several sections.

KS3 Bitesize (similar to KS2) consists of a Revise (review), activity, and test for each skill.
A Maths game show provides skill practice.
The Learning Zone Broadband has a searchable database of brief video clips that help teachers illustrate some of the math concepts (note that these clips are only accessible in Great Britain).
GCSE Bitesize has "bite-size" reviews on high school level math in advanced number skills, algebra, geometry, measurements and data handling.  As with the others, there is a revise (review), sometimes an activity, and a test for each skill.

Finally, Higher Bitesize provides practice for upper high school (grades 10-12) and AP math skills,  There are reviews and tests of concepts in algebra - functions, logarithms, polynomials, quadratic theory, and recurrence equations.  There are reviews of calculus concepts in differentiation and integration.  Geometry reviews include circle, straight line and vectors.  And trigonometry reviews consist of compound and multiple angles, radians and equations, and wave function.

BBC Maths is one useful source for review and practice.  If you're looking for more free interactive math games, lessons and practice websites, you'll find more than 360 listed on
LearningReviews.com Interactive Math Websites

Solving Math Word Problems with Online Tools

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If your student or child is struggling with a dreaded math word problem, there are tools to help him reach the solution on his own.  Some of my favorite are on Math Playground, a website with problems,  problem-solving tools, and math games for grades 1-12.  Math Playground was designed by Colleen King, a math teacher and researcher who is continually looking for ways to use technology to increase student understanding of math.

 Math Playground Thinking Blocks

One of  her website's best problem-solving tools is Thinking Blocks™ interactives for problems with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and ratios, grades 2-7.  These interactives were developed by teachers to help young kids visualize parts, multiple steps, and parts-totals relationships.

Other useful problem-solving tools on Math Playground are the video explanations for solving many different types of word problems.  There are single-stage problems and multiple-stage problems for upper elementary and middle school math concepts using fractions, percentages, ratios, probability, geometry, averages and algebra.

For older students in grades 7 and above,  the SAT section provides step-by-step video guidance for solving word problems typically found on the SAT.  These include probability, data analysis, quadrilaterals, coordinate and solid geometry, among others.

Online, you'll find countless worksheets with word problems.  And there are some online instructions for how to go about solving the problems.  But there are precious few websites that guide kids through problem solving step-by-step.  Math Playground  is one of the best at providing interactive assistance for your child to build confidence in solving word problems.

For more math word problem practice and assistance, look at the websites described on
LearningReviews Math Word Problems

Tinkerball Game & Simple Machines Interactives

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Tinker Ball Simple Machine Interactive Game

The Tinker Ball game is one of a growing number of simple machine interactives to help kids understand how simple machines work and how they're used in inventions.  Tinker Ball is an invention at play from the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, through the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. 

The object of the Tinkerball game is get the tennis ball at the top of the screen into the small container at the bottom of the screen.  It provides everyday objects, like funnels, a hockey stick, rulers, gears, and springs.  Kids drag and drop the objects at the right onto the screen to guide the ball in the direction they want it to go.  They can rotate the objects to fit their "inventions."

If  the ball doesn't make it into the container when you release it, you can adjust your invention until you get it right.  Once you've succeeded, the playing screen is wiped clean and you can play Tinker Ball again.

There are lots of simple machine and even physics principles that can be learned with this game.  What type of simple machine is each object?  Can you predict the trajectory of the tennis ball when it bounces off a certain object?  Or how high it will bounce when it hit objects from a certain distance? Can you provide more than one path for the ball to take to reach the container?  Can you use all of the pieces?  Can you create your own Tinker Ball invention in your classroom from objects in the room?

Tinkerball is one of a few simple machine interactive games I've written about in previous posts. Try out the Simple Machines Game.  Or play with Edheads Simple Machines and Compound Machine, both listed in LearningReviews.com websites with Forces & Motions interactives and lessons.

Science Music Projects for PBL

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Music and the Brain Podcasts

A series of Music and the Brain podcasts from the Library of Congress can be an inspiration for science music PBL - project-based learning - lessons.  These podcasts focus on the study of neuroscience and music, specifically how music can alleviate depression and grief, improve memory retention, treat illness, and even prevent crime.

The podcasts brought me back to my first teaching experience.  I first started teaching as a substitute at two neighboring elementary schools in a high-poverty area.  The schools were less than a mile apart and had the same demographic population.  But they had markedly different cultures.

Each morning at one school, students were corralled by teachers into the building and told to move quickly and quietly to their classrooms.  Infractions (and there were many) earned quick reprimands.

The other school started each morning with classical music playing outside the building and in the hallways and classrooms.  I relaxed and I could see the kids visibly relax as they entered the school.  There were no discipline problems in the hallways.

So I see how this emerging area of research in neuroscience and music lends itself to a variety of projects for students that could directly impact them in school.  Students could answer questions such as:

• Can music in the hallways decrease problems that occur there?  What kind of music?  
• Can music help in the cafeteria as well?
• Can music help improve the test scores of students who listen to it while studying?  What kind?
• Is it beneficial in study hall? 
• Are musical mnemonics effective in helping us memorize stuff?

The students would begin their research by reading previous studies, learning the significant qualities of music involved in research, talking to experts in the field, then constructing their own experiments.  The end product could be a presentation to the school administration, or even school board, of the results of their research, and a recommendation as to whether or not to use music in school, or as a study aid.  

Or students could videotape musical mnemonics for important information and post them to the school website or YouTube.  See my Squidoo post on Memorizing Techniques Using Music for some examples.

For conducting introductory research, try using, Sweet Search, a search engine designed for K-12 students.  For other research sources, look at LearningReviews.com Online References.  For constructing your PBL plan, I (once again) highly recommend West Virginia Dept of Education's PBL Tools, which include an excellent template.


A theme throughout the Music and the Brain  podcasts is how young people who were musicians, later gravitated toward medical careers in college.  They found a way to mesh their love of music with medicine and medical research.  What an inspiration for high school students setting out on a career path.