Glossary of PBL terminology

GLOSSARY

1. Authenticity (level) is the project features real-world context, tasks and tool, quality standards or impact – or speaks to students’ personal concerns, interests and issues in their lives.

2. Project is an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.

3. Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered method that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems.

4. 21st century skills are skills, abilities, and learning dispositions that have been identified as being required for success in 21st century society and workplaces by educators, business leaders, academics, and governmental agencies.

5. Creativity in PBL is mental characteristic that allows a person to think outside of the box, which results in innovative or different approaches to a particular task. 

6. Collaboration in PBL is a joint effort of multiple individuals or work groups to accomplish a project.

7. Critical thinking in PBL is the objective analysis of facts to form a judgment. 

8. Essential question or driving question is any question requiring the student to develop a plan or course of action or the student to make a decision. The essential question directs the course of student research.

9. Open-ended questions are phrased as a statement which requires a response. 

10. Inquiry-based learning is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions or problems — rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge.

11. Crafting is an activity of making decorative articles by hand.

12. Authentic assessment is a learning experience used in the context of students working on projects that authentically engage and motivate them to perform well.

13. Student Voice and Choice - students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create.

14. Coherence (level) is the logical and consistent relation of parts.

15. Complexity (level) is the quality of being intricate and compounded.