Project-based learning (PBL) can create a rich learning environment and equip students with the knowledge and skills they need to tackle future challenges. And whether PBL is a dedicated part of your class already, or you’re just interested in bringing it in, you can use Kialo Edu when planning for PBL-based lessons! Best of all, it’s completely free to use, so let’s explore how you can use Kialo discussions to enhance the learning experience for your students.
What are the benefits of project-based learning?
Project-based learning is a highly engaging instructional approach that immerses students in learning through hands-on, meaningful projects, which typically take place over an extended period.
Through PBL, students delve into real world questions and challenges, taking an inquiry-led approach to research, investigate, and explore solutions that can connect their learning to their communities or global issues.
This approach emphasizes the role that students hold as active participants in their own learning, giving them a sense of ownership over the process, creating projects that connect theory to practice.
Through authentic and thought-provoking questions, PBL’s clear framework encourages students to apply their knowledge to curricular content in meaningful and purposeful ways to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Essential skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving help students engage with each other to foster positive learning outcomes.
Project-based learning activity examples on Kialo Edu
You can use Kialo discussions when planning PBL-centered lessons, whether that’s by placing the driving question at the center of the discussion, using a discussion to develop background knowledge, or exploring solutions to a challenge.
Kialo discussions promote collaboration, allowing groups to organize and evaluate their ideas. They also come with many features to help educators monitor progress, assess, and provide feedback on students’ work.
While you can always create a discussion to fit your exact needs, below are some example discussions found in Kialo’s Topic Library, which come ready-to-go with a thesis and some starter arguments. Here are some PBL activity examples with Kialo discussions to try out!
1. Spearhead a recycling project for sustainability
Encouraging students to find ways to improve recycling in their school or community engages them in environmental stewardship and deepens their understanding of sustainability.
A discussion on whether recycling should be mandatory invites students to understand the challenges of developing effective systems through economic, environmental, and social lenses. Taking this structured approach helps students to identify and anticipate obstacles while designing effective solutions.
To take it a step further, students can create informational materials to share with their school, or set up educational workshops to put their plans into action.
This could mean improving the current recycling bins setup, or organizing clean-up events in their community to experience the impact firsthand!
2. Design the ideal urban environment
In designing an ideal urban environment, students take on the role of urban planners who are challenged with critically reflecting on what makes cities thrive.
To start this project, encourage students to analyze common urban challenges and innovative solutions in this multi-thesis Kialo discussion considering the greatest challenge to megacities. Students might look into urban sustainable design, green technologies, and how to integrate natural spaces to strike a realistic balance between development and environmental concerns.
By proposing solutions to the real-world problems such as waste management, pollution, water conservation, and quality of life, students will gain insights into urban planning while enhancing their creativity and problem-solving skills.
3. Cultivate home gardens for hands-on science
For a rich learning experience, have students explore the world of home gardening. Whether they focus on the role of gardens in supporting pollinators, the benefits from growing their own food and its connection to a healthy diet, or the life cycle of plants and their care, there is plenty of room for exploration and hands-on learning.
To kick things off, students can use the discussion on whether governments should encourage home gardens for background research on the topic. Using the discussion, students can supplement their project by writing a proposal for a government initiative to encourage home gardens or an alternative way to bring the benefits of gardening into urban areas.
For the hands-on portion of the project, students can create detailed garden designs as their project deliverable. These designs could include plant selection, layout and spacing considerations, a step-by-step building guide, and care instructions. A written rationale for their choices can reinforce the thought process behind their designs.
Examining the role of art in social change is a meaningful way to explore the intersection of art, history, and social activism. Students can draw parallels between historical movements and contemporary issues to explore how creativity shapes the world and creates a space for advocacy.
In the Kialo discussion Is art an effective method of driving social change?, students can research its benefits and challenges, examining how artists across different times and places responded to the social issues of their era.
This topic also provides students with a range of opportunities to express themselves creatively about a cause they care about. For a hands-on experience, students can create a documentary or digital gallery, or visual art and written pieces to raise awareness, share their perspectives, or advocate for their chosen cause. They might keep a learning journal to document their creative and learning process before delivering their final piece.
In a Kialo discussion asking whether social media benefits or threatens democracy, students develop their political and media literacy by exploring topics such as political engagement, information campaigns, misinformation, data privacy, polarization, citizen journalists, and grassroots movements.
After engaging in the discussion, students might create a mock social media campaign focused on promoting political engagement, combating misinformation, or addressing divisive online discourse.
They’ll critically assess media sources, considering whether social media can be used to strengthen democracy. Alternatively, they could create a blog aimed at informing peers on effective (and respectful) ways to use and behave in online spaces.
Project-based learning offers a world of areas to engage with, and for students to focus on authentic questions and collaborative exploration. We’d love to hear about how you are using Kialo discussions in your PBL classrooms. Please get in touch at feedback@kialo-edu.com or on any of our social media channels.
