Supporting Research

1.  Click here to read about and access several major studies on project-based learning.

2.  What research suggests about the Essential Schools idea.

3.  Advisory program and research evaluation.

4.  Inclusion research at Boston Arts Academy.

5.  Research on Multimedia in Education

Common objections/excuses include:

1.  "We have to get the kids ready for the standardized tests."  Due to NCLB , we are inundated with simply getting kids ready to take the standardized tests.  In other words, "we do not have the luxury to take the time to teach our student meaningful curriculum, using appropriate instruction.  We must prepare those kids for the standardized tests due to NCLB (No Child Left Behind).

2.  "The research does not support that type of curriculum."  -  Actually, there is a HUGE  body of highly credible research which support my contentions that if you deliver a Meaningful, Relevant, Challenging, Project-Based, Thematic, Projected-Based curriculum, several things will occur:

• Student motivation will literally skyrocket
• Student discipline problems will all but disappear
• Student achievement - from special ed, and at-risk students, to the highest level, creative students, will SOAR.  Have you seen the commercials on television for the Ortho or Miracle Grow food for plants?  It is similar to that experience, except that the grown is much more powerful and exciting.
• Students, because they have been engaged in a long-term research-0riented, research-based project;  one in which they have been allowed some choice over what they study (everything from the class selecting the overall project to the individual student selecting an individual research topic which has meaning and passion for him/her). will experience HIGH LEVELS OF STUDENT MOTIVATION - which is exhibited both in and out of school.
• Connections to previous learning and interests abound.

3.  Our teachers do not have time to develop this type of curriculum.  Well, that begs the questions:  Are they not being provided time they need by the school district?  Do they not really care?  Are they unaware of the current research regarding best practices for students in the 21st century?  Or are the administrators, school board, or other people in power for some reason against this type of curriculum, and are they blocking it whether they really know anything about it or not?

But I do KNOW, not only from personal experience with my classroom, but from the experience of working with teachers in other schools, and finally, through the vast array of quality, highly relevant, authentic research, that the traditional way of educating students is wrong, and that the project-based, technology-driven, etc. kind of curriculum I recommend for the 21st century WORKS.

I realize that the NCLB scares nearly every educator, and I do not blame the teachers for being concerned.  But we, as educators,  have to fight against policies that are harmful to our students.   We have to show them what really works:  What causes student learning?  I can guarantee you that it is not the "drill and skill" and the "worksheets"

THINK BACK:  Who were your favorite teachers?  Who understood you?  Which teachers provided the time, caring and resources for you to do some kind of meaningful project (no matter how small) which helped you to absolutely, and concretely, understand the concept being taught.

THINK BACK AGAIN -  What courses, or teachers, did you find incredibly boring or irrelevant?  Did you really LEARN anything of USE in those classes, or did you just put in your time to get credit for those Carnegie units so that you could graduate?