teaching and learning at PCS

Project Based Learning

Project-based learning at PCS is a meaningful approach to authentic learningthat confronts students with challenging problems, intriguing questions and complex, multi-sided issues related to the theme of our school-wide, trimester-long Integrated Unit of Study. Over the course of each ten- to twelve-week trimester,students and facilitators work together to propose lines of inquiry inspired by student interest, pursue research opportunities, and design interdisciplinary projects that develop deep subject knowledge and engage critical and creative thinking skills, as they craft solutions to the posed problems and issues. When student projects tackle real problems and address actual community concerns, project-based learning helps students build knowledge and insight, not just models.

The project based learning that happens at PCS ishands-on, collaborative, research-based and reflective,connecting student choice and voice with key academic concepts and skills within a framework of real-world activities that makes learning relevant and memorable．研究生通常venture out into the field to find local experts, consult primary sources and collect first-hand data．In the classroom, students learn towork with design cycles to plan, organize, manage, execute and evaluate projects．Working together on long-term projects,students learn true collaboration: incorporating their individual voices and skills into a shared project that also honors the contributions of others. Reflection plays a crucial role in project-based learning at PCS;students are learning to think not only aboutwhatthey are learning, buthowthey are learning, so they can recognize and summon these strengths throughout the course of their learning journeys. As the Integrated Unit unfolds, students utilize multiple media (journals, sketchbooks, research logs, video, artwork, notes and photos) todocument the evolution of their thinking, share their learning with their peers and create their own authentic assessments.

Whether students successfully petition their local town board for Turtle Crossing street signs on roads near waterways, or create fully-immersive, multimedia reenactments of the Big Bang to teach their younger schoolmates about the birth of the Universe, or design their own superheroes using current bionic and cybernetic technology to illustrate the positive intersections of Humans and Technology, the project-based learning that happens at PCS is deeply memorable and meaningful because it answers directly to kids.It is learning that matters.