What Is PBL?

Dennis Lab School is the only school in DPS to utilize Project Based Learning, or PBL. It's a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.

Students work on a project over an extended period of time – from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. Then they demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a public product or presentation for a real audience.

In Project Based Learning, the project is the vehicle for teaching the important knowledge and skills students need to learn. The project includes and frames curriculum and instruction.PBL requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of communication. To answer a driving question and create high-quality work, students need to do much more than remember information. They need to use higher-order thinking skills and learn to work as a team.  As a result, students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills.