Project-Based Learning Gives Students the Power to Shape Schools

One of the most important practical lessons students can learn is that they have the power — both as individuals and as a group — to shape the world around them. Carla Preston’s 7th-grade group will get to learn that lesson hands-on thanks to Project Based Learning.

This year, her middle school students will develop a proposal about a concern or an issue they see in the school. The students will then write out a plan on addressing that concern and then present it to the school council for consideration. While this project would seem like it’s aimed at illustrating American ideals, it actually goes further back to the Roman Republic. Preston is using Project Based Learning to unpack how the Roman Republic wielded the power that it did at its peak.

“I want my students to see that they, too, have some power, or voice, in our own school community, and that they can use this voice to make positive changes for everyone,” Preston said.

As with other Project Based Learning activities, this is integrated throughout the students’ curriculum.

“It's not an end-of-unit ‘stop, drop, and let's do a project’ kind of learning,” Preston said. “It's embedded in the content all the way through the unit, allowing students to see and make connections between what they're learning in class and how they can actually apply it to the project they're working on at the time.”

This is particularly important for Preston and her course, which focuses on civilizations who laid the foundation for modernity hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago.

“Since I teach ancient civilizations, it's much more difficult for students to make a connection between then and today, so they wonder why they need to study it,” Preston said. “So PBL allows me to help students see that what they learn about what ancient people did, [and how that] can be used to navigate their own situations, just in a more up-to-date way.”

This focus on Project Based Learning is one that LaRue County Schools will focus on throughout this year. The mission is to take existing curriculum and give students real-world applications of what they’re learning. This is to make the connections easier between what they’ve learned and how they can use it beyond school walls.

Preston noted that the current students at LaRue County have a wealth of information at their fingertips thanks to easy access to the internet. However, she said it’s how they apply that knowledge that will shape their generation and how they enter the workforce.

“Being able to critically think about what they see in front of them and then use that knowledge to solve a problem or create something is a skill that careers require,” she said. “Most careers are project-oriented in one way or another, so getting students to see their work from that aspect and to be able to solve or create or develop something along with classmates will transfer to workplace habits that will help ensure that they will be productive, successful, and happy members of society, which is the ultimate goal of education.