Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity: Opportunities for PBL

I've really struggled to integrate project-based learning, while still maintaining the accountability of a standards-based class. There just isn't enough time to ensure that students are effectively learning what they need to know for college, while allowing them to explore and apply their learning to life's problems.  I feel that I have merged the standards-based and project-based this year by implementing semester long projects in my A&P and Chemistry courses. 

I had a great time with some semester, student driven, projects in Environmental Science.  Students were able to choose a way to impact the community involving Environmental Science.  This was a bit to open-ended the first semester, and students struggled to stay on task and on schedule.  During the second semester, with a smaller class, we were able to develop a project as a class.  Students chose to work in Bloggett Open Space with the Rocky Mountain Field Institute.  They blogged about it and loved the experience.  But, the expectation of outcome in Environmental Science is different from that of Chemistry or A&P.  Environmental Science is a course designed to get students thinking about science in their world.  Chemistry and A&P are designed to prepare students for college level work.  So, developing projects for these courses, while challenging student intellect, was a struggle.

Recently, however, I discovered some great curriculum put out by NSTA.  Forensics in Chemistry takes students through a semester long exploration of a murder scene.  They use concepts from regular chemistry and apply them with inquiry skills to test and explore the unanswered questions of the case.  Diagnosis for Classroom Success for A&P takes students through clinical applications of A&P content.  I'm excited to implement both of these this year as semester long projects to compliment my classes, merging project based learning with standards-based learning.  Students will use a variety of technology to communicate their findings and collaborate with each other. 

The video I am posting for this is actually part of my summer project, creating content/lecture videos for students.