Projects Are More than Just Fun: Experiencing Government through PBL

Project-based learning (PBL) is well known for engaging students enthusiastically and for supporting strong experiential learning. Less well known is that rigorous PBL also excels at fostering rich civic engagement--of key importance now, at a time of heightened concern about civics education. In this article, the authors will illuminate how project-based learning can be both engaging and instructive by spotlighting the experiences of students in a rigorous PBL course and sharing lessons learned by a veteran PBL teacher. The authors also outline the need for more rigorous PBL in social studies classrooms.