Ready to get started with PBL, but not sure what issue would best capture student interest and be teachable? Any problem will do. In fact, look for what the author of a popular book series call a crucial conversation. You can recognize the crucial when you find it if you keep these points in mind:

• Stakes are high

• Opinions vary

• Emotions run strong

When creating your problem, follow these steps:

1) Make a Problem Map. These are questions about the problem you want to see students answered. You may discover other questions that students want answered, but are not navigable in your community. Write those questions down, but mark them as distractions. The focus isn’t on getting lost with precious cargo. Keep the questions that will move the talk forward, not drop you into the Bermuda Triangle.

2) Revise Your Map into a Learning Map. What curriculum standards/objectives do you want to connect to specific questions? Questions that don’t lead to learning can be cut.

3) Pitch Your Problem. Craft an elevator pitch you can share with others. Listeners will feel the emotional and learning potential. This is where you can use technology to connect to real-world problems.

4) Plan the Path you will take with your students. You will explore what they believe they know, then their guesses and hunches. Use thinking organizers (e.g. KWHL) to scaffold learning potential.

With your learning map and path planned, ask yourself, “How can I connect my classroom to real-world problems?”

Dig deeper into the process with information in Resources section below.

A variety of resources cite research describing the learning strategy.

• Collaborative Projects in PBL, Part One

• Dystopian Learning, No Matter the Device

• PBL Planning: Begin with the End in Mind

• Lesson Planning with 5E Model and Technology

• Tech-Enhanced PBL Academy

• Keys to PBL

• Shifting the Conversation: Basic Tech Skills for Teachers

• Active Learning: A Students' Perspective

• Video-based Active Learning

• Ideas for Student Civic Action in a Time of Social Uncertainty

Research Round-Up

• • Physical activities get your students out of their chairs, learning better.

  • Written/video quick reflections on learning (e.g. quickwrites, quickvids) yield powerful benefits

  • Flipped learning, efficacious learning

  • STEM/STEAM lessons show real value

  • Robotics and/or 3D printing, engaging and pedagogically sound

  • Project-based and game-based learning

A Few More Tips

• Engage with Problems: Engage learners in the authentic purpose of solving a problem (problem-based learning/inquiry-based learning).

• Encourage Collaboration and Implementation: Encourage and support adult learners as they collaborate on projects–sharing their own life experiences–focused on the creation of tangible product(s) with modeling and safe implementation opportunities.

• Amplify Learners’ Voices with Tech: Amplify human voices with technology as they gather stories and share them (blogging, podcasts, video, media collections).