Making Rigorous PBL by Design Doable

It is difficult to accept that the best learning road is slow and that doing poorly now is essential for better performance later.  It is so deeply counterintuitive that it fools the learners themselves both about their own progress and their […]

Raising the Bar for Student Work in PBL: 3 Tips and Tools to Get Started

Many of my early projects followed a repetitive and unfulfilling path. The project would begin with a bang and generally included lots of excitement and commitment. But, by the end of the journey, the momentum had waned and only a whimper of […]

Using Pre-Built Performance Tasks to Implement High-Quality PBL with Ease

Many of you know and love meal kits – the kind you can order from Home Chef, Hello Fresh, Blue Apron or many other companies. I think they’re a fitting analogy to the kind of pre-built performance tasks offered by Defined Learning.

A meal kit […]

How to Foster Student-Directed Learning in Your Classroom

For the past 21 years, I have been teaching high school science, from environmental and earth science to college prep, honors, and Advanced Placement biology. During my first 15 years as an educator, I taught science based on how I was taught when I […]

4 Tips to Help Teachers Finish the School Year Strong

As we wind down the school year, educators may be looking for some new ideas to boost student engagement, spark some curiosity for learning, or perhaps just take some new risks with new methods and tools in their classrooms. I think this time of […]

Leveraging Technology to Engage Students in Meaningful Career-Focused Learning

After 12 years of teaching in Florida’s public school system, Brian Tupper’s principal let him know he was considered a “non-fiction reading teacher”, rather than a World Cultures and Geography teacher. Frustrated with the educational system, Tupper […]

3 Steps to Launching PBL at Your School

Starting anything new can be a daunting task, particularly for a school site administrator. But when starting a new instructional focus that requires training, buy-in, follow-through, and follow-up, well now that can be even more challenging.  This […]

The Top 5 Motivational and Inspirational Stories from Trailblazing Educators

To help provide inspiration and new ideas for engaging your students, we’ve put together a list of articles that were written by some of our favorite trailblazing educators.

5 stories featuring inspiring educators: 

Projects that Inspire Students […]

PBL Puts the FUN in FUNdamentals!

As you are winding down your school year, it is a great time to think about ways to end the year with exciting and engaging learning for all your students. Deep learning has become a buzzphrase in many school districts and is really not a new type […]

Assessing Deeper Learning

The profound disruptions to traditional schooling over the past two years leave educators with unique opportunities to redefine school. Though it may be tempting to try to teach faster to "catch up" on missed content, we contend that the best course […]