- Sometimes the distinction between "teaching with projects" and Project Based Learning is lost.
- When "teaching with projects," a lot of CS courses use projects as a way to test students’ understanding of materials presented in lecture.
- In contrast, Project Based Learning (PBL)
- Uses the project to motivate the content.
- Uses rubrics to grade assignments.
- Fosters group interactions with structured roles in group projects.
- Structures learning in context of prior knowledge.
- KWL charts (used by Texas’ Computer Science Principles course (CSP)) are a great way to scaffold this.
- Note from CS Teaching Tips: check out our other tips on KWL charts (http://csteachingtips.org/tip/when-preparing-class-activities-ask-yours…).
- Includes opportunities for assessment of collaboration.
- Assessments include peer review or other metrics.
- One assessment Texas’ CSP uses is called a "Split-Point Assessment", example: https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/883420/assignments/3025371
- Additional resources on PBL tavailable from the Buck Institute for Education http://bie.org/