4 PBL Project Ideas That Your Students Will LOVE

Kirsten 0:09

This is the social studies teacher podcast, a show for busy elementary teachers looking for fun and engaging ways to easily add social studies into their classroom schedule without feeling overwhelmed or pressed for time. I'm Kirsten of the Southern teach, an educator and mom who is passionate about all things social studies. I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement. So let's dive in together.

Kirsten 0:47

Hi there, and welcome to another episode of the social studies teacher Podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about four PBL project ideas that your students will love. I personally loved using projects in my social studies block. It's a great way to connect what they learned in social studies, whatever topic it is, with something just fun. It's spread over a few weeks or so, and it's engaging, and it's usually something that's really memorable for students. And the projects that I have in my guided curriculum, there's one for every single unit that I have. I wanted to highlight just a few of them, because I think they're some of my favorites. Really fun. It's something that students would really enjoy. And you can grab these ideas, use them as I share information about each project, and mix and match the concept with a another concept that you might be teaching instead. So using that idea and transferring it over to another topic of your choice.

Kirsten 1:54

All right, we're gonna start with one of my favorites that I personally have used with my students, and that is a create an island map. This is featured in the third grade guided curriculum unit one map and globe skills unit. In this project, they are Island cartographers, and they create their own unique island map, complete with various locations and map elements. The criteria is that their map must include the title of the map that they decide on, whatever theme it is. The grid system with rows and columns, A, B, C, D, 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. A compass rose with Cardinal and intermediate directions. It needs to have a legend. It needs to have a scale, at least one capital, least three cities, two roads, two natural resources and two physical features. So there is a lot that's included in the content and what they include, but you will find that students are pretty creative with it, because, like, the sky's the limit. I've seen like Minecraft Island, you could do like a sweet treat island, with the theme being like natural resources being lollipops or cupcakes or something like that. So there's no rhyme or reason to what the theme is, as long as the map is neat, easy to read, colorful, and the elements on the map are in places that make sense. And you can give students kind of a rough draft to practice on with a simple four by four grid, or six by six grid. Or you can just have them do it on poster paper. They could do it independently. They could do it in groups, just as long as it's to scale, and it includes those primary map features that I might have mentioned. And you might add more or less, depending on what you're talking about with your students, or what you've talked about with your students, as far as map skills and globe skills. And my specific project unit, it includes a kind of a pre made map with like a starting point for students who might need extra support. And then there's a blank map. So you can either choose between those two. But that is the first project idea is the Create an island map, have your students get creative and create their own theme.

Kirsten 4:12

Kirsten 8:05

The third PBL project idea is from the American Revolution unit, fifth grade guided curriculum. This is Unit Five, and it's all about the American Revolution. So this project is called the American Revolution quilt. This is an idea that you can really do for other things, such as the Civil War or the 20th century, something like that. But what they're going to do is design and create a four by four quilt with a total of 16 patches representing various aspects of the American Revolution. So four patches have to represent the causes of the American Revolution. Four patches represent famous battles during the revolution. Four patches represent famous people during the American Revolution. And four patches must represent the results and effects of the American Revolution. And this can be symbolic. It does not have to have like an explanation for every patch. It's very similar to what you would see on an actual quilt, like you might see a design or some type of symbol, maybe like a little tea cup representing, you know, the Boston Tea Party, or something like that, or taxes, money, all of that stuff. They're coming up with different symbols and decorations for each patch, and it has to relate to the causes of the American Revolution, battles, people, and effects. And what you could do to make sure students like are not just drawing random symbols and they they forget about it, you can have them write a paragraph for each of the four patches, so, like, a paragraph about the causes and, you know, explaining why they put the different symbols, and then a paragraph about the famous battles, a paragraph about the famous people they chose, and the paragraph about the results and effects of the American Revolution, and they can present their patches and their quilts to the class. So the other thing about it is that it needs to be visually appealing and colorful, and the illustrations must accurately represent events and figures. They do not have to be bonafide artists or anything like that, but it does have to show some type of appeal, color, and it accurately represents what actually happened during the American Revolution. And this can be something like a simple 8 by 11 piece of paper, where they're just dividing it into 16 squares. Or you can do it in a much larger scale. Maybe instead of one piece of paper, they have, like a square paper template, and they have 16 of those to make a larger quilt. If you're doing a larger scale, I would recommend maybe having them do it in groups of like three to four to take off, you know, the alleviation of the extent and you know, detail of it. And another idea is, if you do have a larger scale, you could have students write in a short, you know, two to three sentences, something explaining about the image that they chose for that specific patch. So there's a lot of different ways you can go about doing this, and that is just one.

All right, the last PBL project idea I have for you is the Mission and Presidio 3D model project. This is super fun because students research and create a 3D model of a Texas Mission or Presidio using materials of their choice. This is featured in the unit five early Texas settlements unit for the fourth grade Texas history guided curriculum. That is the project that is featured there. And what students are going to do is do a 3D model and present the model and share information about its history, where it's located, and its purpose. So there's a difference between the Mission and Presidio that's covered in the units, but they're deciding on a real life Mission or Presidio in Texas that interests them. If you're over in California, you might have some Missions or Presidios there so this is something you can easily transfer over. And they're using sources to research information about that Mission or Presidio. So they're looking at the name of the Mission, the Alamo, is a very famous Mission that we mostly know about. They are deciding or figuring out what they know about the Mission or Presidio already, and they're also researching where the mission or Presidio is located. What was the purpose of the Mission or Presidio, the history of the Mission or Presidio, and in the present day, how is the Mission or Presidio used today? Is it just a museum, or is it something that is no longer there? They draw a sketch of the Mission or Presidio, and then in the second part, they're creating it using either construction or card stock paper, modeling clay, cardboard, they're creating some type of model. And if you look at the blog post or article related to this specific episode, I do have samples of not just this project, but all the projects that I mentioned in this episode, they're to be adding detail, they're being creative, and they are also, you know, making sure it's historically accurate in design. It's neat, well crafted with attention to details like bell towers, living quarters, and adobe walls. And when they present, you want to make sure that they are practicing their presentation beforehand and that they're prepared to answer questions from their classmates. So this is a really great way to not only practice those presentation skills of what they're presenting, thinking about the key things about, you know, the structure, what was the purpose of it, the history and how it's used today. But also, you know, is it presentable? Are they able to ask and also answer questions related to whatever they decided to build the model of? So this could easily be done with maybe some type of landform. Maybe you're doing something with landforms or some type of landmark or structure in your state, or in the United States, famous landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, maybe they have to do a 3D model of Mount Rushmore or Golden Gate Bridge. This could easily be applied to other topics related to social studies. So there's a few ideas related to that there.

But something I did also want to mention is, with all of these project ideas in my guided curriculum for all units, I always have rubrics available and criteria so students have a guide of what's expected if you decide to take it for a summative grade.

And speaking of project based learning, if you're interested to learn more about PBL projects, I am so excited to share that I am presenting on this very topic at the Winter education summit, which is an online summit that launches this Saturday, January 18th, if you're listening to this in real time. My session is for grades three through five, and it is about project based learning in Social Studies. I'm going to share with you how to design and implement inquiry based social studies, projects such as the ones I mentioned in this episode that foster critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration among students. You'll receive step by step guidance on creating projects that align with your standards and also captivate students' interests. So if this is something you're interested in, there's even more besides just my session mine - I'm kind of biased, but I know it's going to be amazing. It's going to be awesome. You're going to love it, but you're also going to get 90 days of access to all content you can learn at your own pace. There's over 30 sessions by nationally recognized educational experts. There's exclusive free resources just for attendees, variety of sessions that you can pick and choose, and there is a personalized certificate of attendance with your detailed, completed PD hours based on which sessions you decide to watch. So if you're interested in that, the link is in the show notes where you're listening to this episode.

All right, I hope you've enjoyed some project ideas and maybe got your mind thinking about how you can use some of the ideas I shared into other topics, or you can just use it as is. And again, if you're interested in any of these units, and you're like, I want the whole thing, just give this all to me. Done for you. Just check out the link in my show notes or in the description, and you can check out which ones you want. Thanks again for listening to the episode. I will talk to you again next week. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

Thanks for listening to the social studies teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and strategies.