Unleashing Student Agency with Project-Based Learning

Suzie Boss

Price may vary by retailer

for ISTE+ASCD members.

Go to Member Dashboard

Buy from other retailers:

About This Book

Reignite student enthusiasm and agency with meaningful projects that make an impact beyond the classroom.

More than half of U.S. students feel disengaged from school, a disenchantment that increases as they progress from elementary to secondary grades. But project-based learning expert Suzie Boss has seen how students at all levels can reengage through meaningful projects—individual, group, or whole-class—that tap into their passions and make a difference in the world. Careful planning is key! Boss shows how to make such learning experiences both empowering and instructive: a way for students to apply and extend essential content-area understandings while building valuable collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills.

In Unleashing Student Agency with Project-Based Learning, Boss offers

  • Guidance on helping students find worthy problems to solve.
  • Instruction on how to design projects and connect students with experts and community allies.
  • Detailed descriptions of real student projects, with explanations of the strategies and collaborations that led to student success.

This book will leave you inspired and equipped with the techniques, structures, and resources needed to launch transformative projects that boost students' sense of themselves as problem-solvers and a positive force in the world.

Praise for Unleashing Student Agency with Project-Based Learning

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Part I. Designing Real-World Learning

Chapter 1. How to Find Project-Worthy Problems

Chapter 2. Designing with Purpose

Chapter 3. How to Connect Students with Allies, Experts, and Partners

Part II. Students to the Rescue

Chapter 4. Stronger Communities

Chapter 5. Citizen Journalists

Chapter 6. Caring for the Planet

Chapter 7. Engaged Citizens

Chapter 8. Righting Wrongs

Chapter 9. Global Action

Part III. Going Farther

Chapter 10. Overcoming Challenges

Chapter 11. Your Next Steps

Resources

References

About the Author

Related Resources

Unleashing Student Agency with Project-Based Learning Study Guide

Copyright

"This book is an invaluable update to the pantheon of books about PBL, with new ideas and up-to-date resources. Suzie Boss's writing is so enjoyable to read, and she has the expert journalist's nose for finding and interviewing just the right sources for her storytelling. She includes many and varied examples of inspiring projects, from all over the U.S. and beyond, coupled with abundant, clear, actionable advice for teachers who want to create similarly powerful learning experiences for their students."
—John Larmer, Senior Fellow, PBLWorks/Buck Institute for Education

"Suzie Boss has brought the Transformational Learning Principles to life through stories, descriptions of projects, quotes from teachers and students, and examples from across the United States and around the world. Educators will find inspiration mixed with practical advice on how to guide project-based, place-based learning that centers student voice and choice. The book is full of useful strategies, tips, encouragement, and resources for engaging students in meaningful, real-world learning—which is exactly what is needed in schools everywhere."
—Julie Meltzer, Director of K–12 and Teacher Education, Institute for Humane Education

"Student engagement can drop sharply as kids move through school, but the teachers in this book didn't accept that as inevitable. Suzie Boss brings their stories to life in a way that feels less like 'look what they did' and more like a genuine invitation to try it yourself."
—Cindy Johanson, Executive Director, George Lucas Educational Foundation, producer of Edutopia

ISBN
Format
Pages
205
Audience
Release
Other Formats
eBook
Member Book

About the Authors

  • Suzie Boss

    Suzie Boss, writer and educational consultant who works with educators interested in shifting to more student-centered, innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

    Full bio & all books