Project-Based Learning: A Short History

Projects make the world go 'round. For almost any endeavor -- whether it's launching a space shuttle, designing a marketing campaign, conducting a trial, or staging an art exhibit -- you can find an interdisciplinary team working together to make it happen.

When the project approach takes hold in the classroom, students gain opportunities to engage in real-world problem solving too. Instead of learning about nutrition in the abstract, students act as consultants to develop a healthier school cafeteria menu. Rather than learning about the past from a textbook, students become historians as they make a documentary about an event that changed their community.

Especially when it's infused with technology, project-based learning may look and feel like a 21st-century idea, but it's built on a venerable foundation.
Strong Foundation

Confucius and Aristotle were early proponents of learning by doing. Socrates modeled how to learn through questioning, inquiry, and critical thinking -- all strategies that remain very relevant in today's PBL classrooms. Fast-forward to John Dewey, 20th-century American educational theorist and philosopher, and we hear a ringing endorsement for learning that's grounded in experience and driven by student interest. Dewey challenged the traditional view of the student as a passive recipient of knowledge (and the teacher as the transmitter of a static body of facts). He argued instead for active experiences that prepare students for ongoing learning about a dynamic world. As Dewey pointed out, "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

Maria Montessori launched an international movement during the 20th century with her approach to early-childhood learning. She showed through example that education happens "not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment." The Italian physician and child-development expert pioneered learning environments that foster capable, adaptive citizens and problem solvers.

Jean Piaget, the Swiss developmental psychologist, helped us understand how we make meaning from our experiences at different ages. His insights laid the foundation for the constructivist approach to education in which students build on what they know by asking questions, investigating, interacting with others, and reflecting on these experiences.