Meghan Raftery

Propelling Forward With a Student-Centered Technology Lens

If there is one thing Tina Henckel, Director of STEM for Norwalk Public Schools in Norwalk, Connecticut knows, it’s how to pivot. Since 2018, Henckel and her team have been working to define what Project-Based Learning (PBL) looks like for Norwalk. […]

Using Defined Learning to Support Teachers with High-Quality PBL Professional Learning

When Angelina Rowden, principal at Sunrise School, says, “Our school is our community” she means both literally and figuratively. The school, which serves students in grades pre-k through 8 is 50 miles south of St. Louis and the only business in […]

North Carolina School District Gives STEM some STEAM

The data speaks for itself in Greene County, North Carolina, but it’s only part of the story. The real story comes from the district’s response to remote learning, and, most importantly, according to district leaders, the feedback the district is […]

Bartlett City Schools Increases Access to STEM Experiences with Defined Learning

“Can I use this exclusively?!” When Katie MCain, the 6-12 instructional supervisor for Bartlett City Schools in Tennessee, heard this from one of her teachers, she knew the district’s plan for STEM and Project-Based Learning (PBL) was going better […]

How to Convince Parents to Support Project-Based Learning at Home

Schooling has changed dramatically in the past 20 years and it can be difficult to communicate those changes to families who are now facilitating their children’s learning from home.  Complex strategies like project-based learning (PBL) can be […]

The Future of Future-Ready: How the Pandemic Changed Education

"So, just now that we've reopened our buildings, I'm able to sleep at night."

Dr. Michele Eller is the assistant superintendent at Chickasaw City Schools in Chickasaw AL, on the outskirts of Mobile. A district with approximately 1,100 students in […]

4 Factors for Determining How to Best Group Students in PBL

When teachers are first learning how to engage students in project-based learning (PBL), one question comes up most often: how should students be grouped? It’s a challenging question because there are a lot of factors that go into how a teacher […]

5 ways to use Defined Learning to facilitate remote learning

As schools across the world participate in large-scale remote learning amidst the outbreak of COVID-19, Defined Learning can be helpful to ensure meaningful learning takes place away from the classroom. Below are five ways that Defined Learning can […]

Fulton County Public Schools Uses Defined Learning to Empower Teachers to Implement STEM-Based PBL

Dr. Valencia Bradshaw may be a 14-year veteran of Fulton County Public Schools, the fourth-largest school system in Georgia, but she has not always been an educator. She spent 18 years in the financial management industry before becoming a business […]

Norwalk Public Schools uses Defined Learning to create a launchpad for teachers to get started with PBL

A district leader discusses how they determined the best way to scale PD and prepare teachers to implement project-based learning.

“What does Project-Based Learning (PBL) look like for Norwalk?” This question has been Tina Henckel, Director of K-12 […]