One of the keys to making project-based learning work in your classroom is to engage students with really fun, exciting project ideas. There’s nothing worst than realizing halfway through a month-long project that students are bored, uninterested and therefore unmotivated to even finish a project. Keep reading for 5 tips, as well as 5 project ideas that will hook your students from the getgo!
Want to learn more about project-based learning. The Beginner’s Guide to Project-Based Learning includes tons of helpful tips and strategies. In addition, it also includes a 2-week project on growth mindset! And it’s free! Click here to download it right now!
5 Keys to PBL Project that WIll Engage Students
I believe that a really good project-based learning project should have these 5 qualities:
- You have heard at least one student talk about the topic before in casual conversation
- It gets you, the teacher, excited!
- The possibilities are endless
- It cannot be easily solved/answer
- The question is relevant to the real world
Project Idea #1 to Engage Students
“Can we get a word into the dictionary?”. In this first project idea, students will learn about the process of getting a word into the dictionary. In addition,they will then choose a word that is within the Generation Z vernacular that is not in the dictionary, and plan a way to attempt to get it into the dictionary.
I love this project idea but it has students learning multiple skills; First, they learn about what a lexicographer is. Secondly, students explore trends in words and how a word becomes popular enough. Thirdly students learn how to use a dictionary (a skill that is not taught enough, in my opinion) and how to create a dictionary entry. Click here to check out the Dictionary skills project-based learning project.
As English language arts teachers, we don’t often get to spend time and talk with students about how words are created and used in everyday life. Thanks to social media, new words, or how we define words, seem to be popping up all of the time. Why not explore word trends with students with this fun project?
Project Idea #2 to Engage Students
“Why do we have sports?”
The topic of sports is one of my favourites to explore with students. This is because sports is a unifying topic for us. Which is exactly the idea behind this project topic. Also, why do we have sports? Why do we enjoy playing and watching them? Why do we idolize athletes?
There are so many possibilities for this project idea!
Through the driving question “why do we have sports?”, students could:
- Research the history of sports
- Interview a local athlete
- Examine how the media portrays athletes
- Read a novel related to sports (The Crossover, Throw Like a Girl, etc…)
- Debate the topic “sports are an essential part of society”
Project Idea #3-” How do you Know If You Have a Growth Mindset?”
Growth mindset has become a hot topic in the education space in the last few years. Teachers everywhere are teaching students how to grow a growth mindset. However, students still don’t know what a growth mindset looks like. Specifically, how do we know for sure if we have a growth mindset?
This is the question students explore in this 2-week project.
Students answer this question by doing the following:
- reading 2 narratives about growth and fixed mindset
- compare/contrast growth and fixed mindsets
- describe what growth and fixed mindsets look, feel and sound like
- research how to make a quiz
- write a procedural piece of writing
- write a proposal letter to the principal
- create a quiz that students and adults at the school can complete seeing whether or not they have a growth mindset
Fortunately, this 2-week project is included in my free Beginner’s Guide to Project-Based Learning. Click here to download it now!
Project Idea #4-” What Makes a Writer?”
As ELA teachers, we are constantly having our students write. But do we spend time making our students feel like true writers? What does being a writer even mean? Am I a writer if I write in a journal? Also, does it count as being a writer if you are creating captions for your Instagram post?
For this project idea, have your students spend time exploring what it means to be a writer.
Some questions students could explore are:
- what does a writer look like?
- how does a writer think?
- what does a writer do?
- do writers always love writing?
- what does a writer think about?
- what makes someone a writer?
- are you a writer?
Click here to check out my What Makes A Writer writing activity.
For example, students could:
- Interview a local author
- Create a book tour-like presentation where they answer questions, discuss a piece of writing and their process when it comes to writing
- Develop a campaign for the school that promotes writing to its students
Click here to download The Beginner’s Guide to Project-Based Learning. It’s FREE!
Project Idea #5 to Engage Students
“What makes a business stand out?”
Lastly, in this project idea, students will create a coffee shop business with the goal to create a business that stands out to its customers.
Specifically, students will:
- Prepare questions and interview an expert from the field (a business owner)
- Learn about what it means to be a business visionary
- Create a vision for their own coffee shop business
- Survey their ideal customers and create an ideal customer profile
- Create a business story that attracts their customers
- Name their business, create a slogan and design a logo (and staff uniforms)
- Choose a charity that the business will help support
- Present their business plan to a real-world audience (an investor)
- Hold regular business meetings with the team
- Finally, write pre and post-project self-reflections
To learn more, Click here to check out this project in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I hope this list of project ideas to engage students was helpful. Whether you use these ideas, or this list sparked another idea in you, I hope you feel inspired to create learning opportunities for students that spark joy, excitement and curiosity! Ideally, we want our students to come to class eager to work on their projects!
Have another epic project idea? Share it by commenting todo down below!
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