In the act of learning, the students obtain content knowledge, acquire skills, develop work habits and practice the application of real world situations. Project – based learning and assessment represent a set of strategies for the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and work ethic through the performance of meaningful tasks.

Students develop deep knowledge of theory, principles, facts and concepts of the content through project-based learning. The creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills are strengthened in the context of doing real world and authentic meaningful projects.

Performance tasks build on earlier content knowledge, process skills, and work habits and are strategically placed in the project to enhance learning as the student “pulls it all together.” Such performance tasks are not “add-ons” at the end of instruction. They are both an integral part of the learning and an opportunity to assess the quality of student performance. When the goal of teaching and learning is knowing and using, the performance-based projects emerge.

The students present their content knowledge through exhibitions to the community, industry partners, families, school partners, corporations, organizations and other schools four times a year. The visitors assess the student’s content knowledge by asking questions, scoring their presentation, analyzing their final product and identifying 21st century skills. Presentation of learning are the students main Performance Assessment for their project.

Higher-order thinking or process skills can come from the various disciplines, such as writing or analyzing text in language arts or math computation and problem-solving skills. Other process skills cut across subject area lines that allow students to have a deeper understanding of the content through project-based learning. 

Leadership, initiative, time management, individual responsibility, honesty, persistence, interpersonal skills, appreciation of diversity, problem solving and working cooperatively with others are examples of work habits necessary for an individual to be successful in life. When students take ownership of their own learning their confidence soars which has a positive ripple effect on their grades, attendance, engagement in school and obtaining a career.