What do you get when you mix critical thinking, hands-on experiences and creative expression? A project! Project-based assignments are a great way to really solidify student understanding on a important topics—and they’re fun, too! Here are ten teacher-recommended projects that we love for you to borrow, adapt and use in your classroom.
Fundamentals of Business Operations:
Have your students create their own 13-step business plan to product, market and sell a product of their choosing. Talk about real world experience!
Tower, Tower, Don’t Fall Down:
Teach physics, architecture, and design while your students use sandwich picks and glue to create towers that can withstand various pressure points.
Food Webs & Food Chains:
Go graphic while you teach about food webs and food chains by having your kids make a graphic depiction of their chosen ecosystem.
Student Designed Gardens:
Take a step up from your standard schoolyard garden and make it a year-long project for teams of students to design, plant, grow, fertilize and harvest their own gardens.
DIY Avatars:
Have your students design their own digital representations of themselves using free design software and then utilize the avatars in your high-tech lessons throughout the year.
Weather or Not?:
Weather chart? Nah! Go above and beyond by making rain gauges in your school yard and using them to predict rainfall, discuss drought and much more.
The Art of Chemistry:
Have your student create unique works of art using their knowledge of chemistry along with white tiles, paint and metal oxides. Cross-curricular, beautiful and fun—all wrapped up in one easy project.
Science Olympiad:
Hold a regular Olympic games that tests your kids skills in physics, biology, chemistry and more.
Rock Rodeo:
Collect rock samples from your environment and then pit each rock against the others, comparing color, strength, size and more.
Who Did It?:
Create a crime scene and then have your student analyze the facts—including fingerprints, clues, evidence and even DNA—to figure out who did it.
What project-based assignments do you use in your classroom?