What is Project-Based Learning? 

“Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.

PBL blends content mastery, meaningful work, and personal connection to create powerful learning experiences, in terms of both academic achievement and students’ personal growth. In Project Based Learning, the project is the vehicle for teaching the important knowledge and skills students need to learn. The project contains and frames curriculum and instruction.” pblworks.org

Are students still learning the core subjects? 

Absolutely! Students are still learning all the same skills and concepts as they were before, but they are now applying them to real-world situations.

For example:

The traditional 8th grade Math standard: CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.2

Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape.

This standard will now be achieved through a project and/or complex question where the students are collecting and analyzing the data of a high interest project, rather than disconnected numbers from the textbook. 

What does that look like in the classroom? 

Small groups will be learning the skills and concepts in the curriculum, like a more traditional program. The students will then take those skills and apply them to a project where those skills are reinforced and extended.

The Age-Mixed Classroom

What is age mixing? 

Class settings where students from a range of more than 2 years are considered age-mixed. 

Why not keep kids in their grade levels?

Most conventional classrooms group children by age, with the largest gap being 6 months to a year. In those settings, all young people learn the same material at the same time, and the curriculum is based on the pace of the average student.  In such a setting, young people can feel left behind if they struggle with a skill or concept, or they can feel bored by being presented with something they have already mastered. 

What are the advantages of mixed age classrooms?

• Learning at Their Own Pace–  In mixed age classrooms, students are continually regrouped based on what they’re working on rather than their age. Students who are advanced can move on to new material regardless of their grade level, and students who need more time to master a concept can do so without fear that the class is leaving them behind (or being held back).

• Continual Regrouping in the Classroom–  In multi-age classes young people work in small groups that shift frequently. At St. Stephen’s, our groups remain small (usually under 15 students), but not so small that break out groups and new pairings aren’t possible. Age mixing enables teachers to regroup students throughout the school year based on their abilities, to better tailor lessons to individual learners.

• Building Social Skills–  In age-mixed environments, students learn how to negotiate, to support, to compromise, and to build relationships with people of different ages.  There is more cooperation and less competition when young people have more opportunities to work with diverse groups, and to work together in novel ways. New and sometimes surprising leadership opportunities also arise.

Academics Highlights