SREB’s Approach to Project-Based Learning

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SREB offers professional development and coaching services that build teachers’ capacity to design project-based assignments that help students master content and cultivate academic, technical and workplace skills.

Our approach to project-based learning blends our decades of experience with career pathways, work-based learning and high-quality assignments with elements of the Framework for High Quality Project Based Learning.

SREB's PBL Design Learning Process: Launch, Ask/Inquire, Imagine, Plan, Create, Experiment/Evaluate, Improve, CommunicationWe use an industry-standard design process to “chunk” learning throughout a project-based unit. Academic or CTE teachers use this problem-solving process to scaffold learning and provide just-in-time instruction as students complete different phases of their projects.

Watch our video introduction to SREB's Powerful Project-Based Learning Practices on our YouTube channel. This video was produced in conjunction with Teaching Channel.

Powerful PBL Practices

With support from SREB, teachers incorporate six powerful practices into their PBL units:

  1. Plan authentic, intellectually demanding PBL units in which students master essential content and skills
  2. Partner with business and postsecondary leaders to plan, implement and reflect on PBL units
  3. Engage students in a collaborative problem-solving process
  4. Foster a classroom environment that supports student ownership of learning
  5. Promote sustained in-depth inquiry
  6. Offer students ongoing, purposeful feedback and opportunities to revise and reflect on their work

Customizable Support

SREB partners with states, districts and schools to design multi-day workshops that introduce teachers or teacher teams to project-based learning and engage them in designing their first PBL units. Follow-up coaching can include:

  • Online planning to support the implementation of a PBL unit
  • Visiting classes to observe student work or co-teach
  • Examining student outcomes with teachers after a PBL unit
  • Coaching teachers through problems with a PBL unit
  • Developing additional PBL units
  • Embedding literacy and math
  • Integrating academic and CTE curricula
  • Building business and industry partnerships

SREB’s approach to PBL serves as a guiding framework for our Advanced Career and Middle Grades STEM curricula and is a natural extension of our Powerful Literacy Practices and Powerful Mathematics Practices.