Project Based Learning Resources
The Friction & Fact Protocol: Outsmarting the Yes-Bot in PBL
If you have ever watched a student paste a project idea into a chatbot and get back “Great idea! Here’s a complete outline,” you have seen the Yes-Bot Problem. AI is trained to be polite. [...]
Architects of Empathy
Middle Project Idea · Grades 6–8 A snapshot of the 5-Phase Prompt Sequence for Project Framing — in action. Teachers don’t need another 40-page packet. They need to see the process move. Here is one [...]
Play Part III: When to try play in PBL, with adults.
Who Can Do It---> Teachers on Monday. Leaders in the Next PD. Tinkering is not a specialist’s job. If you have students, a table, and ten minutes, you can do it. If you lead adults, [...]
Play, Part II: Why Tinkering Belongs at the Front of PBL
In a recent Substack post I wrote about play as an entry point to project-based learning—a provocation that opens the door before anyone announces the driving question. Tinkering is that idea made physical. We do [...]
Play, Part I: Tinkering Is Not a Station-It’s a Way of Thinking
Last week I sat in a workshop and watched a slide that named something I have been circling for years. Tinker (verb): to explore by trying, making, noticing, changing, and trying again. That is the whole [...]
What If Students Designed a Fully Self-Sustaining School?
A high-quality PBL example that turns an 8-part homestead graphic into a campus resilience studio. I was scrolling Instagram when a homestead infographic stopped me. Eight labeled systems. A greenhouse. Rain barrels. A woodshed. A [...]
Building a Shared Definition of High-Quality PBL Through Calibration
When a team of educators sits down to talk about project-based learning, we often assume we’re speaking the same language. We’re not always right. At Patiño School of Innovation, I faced a familiar challenge: a [...]
Icebreakers That Actually Teach
Turning Light Activities into Durable Skill Practice with Meta Moments We’ve all sat through the obligatory icebreaker. Name + something interesting about yourself. Two truths and a lie. Find someone who… The energy is polite, [...]
What a Murder Trial Taught Me About the Kind of Learning Students Never Forget
The surprising connection between true crime and the most powerful project-based learning I’ve ever designed I’ve been following a high-profile murder trial for weeks. Not because I enjoy the tragedy; but because something about the [...]
Small Button, Big Markup: A Middle School Business Project
Students investigate the game-day button market, design a product people will buy, and sell it in public. Middle School PBL Idea Project Summary: Middle school students launch a real button-making business built around game-day and [...]
Best AI Tools for Teachers Designing Project-Based Learning: A Real Side-by-Side Test
Finding the best AI tools for teachers can feel overwhelming. New platforms appear constantly, and most promise to save time or improve instruction. The real question is not “Which AI is the best?” but “Which [...]
Elementary PBL Idea
Project Title: Bus to Bunker: Designing a Hidden Luxury Family Shelter Driving Question: How might we redesign retired school buses into a safe, space-efficient, and inviting underground family shelter that disappears into a backyard while [...]