In meetings with school leaders and during PBL 101 workshops, we are often asked: “What does the research say about PBL? Is there hard data to show that it works?” We addressed that question in Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning (Chapter 3). Rest assured that there are plenty of research studies showing that PBL can have more impact on student learning than traditional teaching approaches. But as any teacher knows, there is good PBL and bad PBL. Good PBL inspires and leads to deeper learning. Bad PBL wastes both the teacher’s and the students’ time. What separates good from bad PBL?

There is no single or simple answer to that question, but we believe what the teacher does while conducting a project is crucial. We describe exemplary project based pedagogy using the term, Project Based Teaching, a set of practices combining careful planning, content selection, culture building, classroom management, instruction, assessment, coaching and scaffolding. Said another way, Project Based Teaching brings together the things excellent teachers have always done, but within the context of Project Based Learning. These practices are an essential to good PBL.