A question parents ask

What is project-based learning, and how do I start?

The short answer

Project-based learning means a child learns by making something real from start to finish, picking up the skills along the way. Start small: a project that takes one to four weeks, a plain first version, and a review at the end.

The reasoning

The idea is old. William Heard Kilpatrick wrote about "the project method" in 1918, arguing that learning works best when it's organized around a purposeful whole.

Think about learning to drive. You don't start by building an engine. You drive, you get curious, and you learn how the car works because you want it to work better. A new programmer writes a whole small program on day one. A new guitarist learns three chords and a song. The finished thing gives the context and the confidence, and the theory arrives when the student needs it.

That's why the basics go inside the project. Math comes through money and cooking. Writing comes through the child's own work: the golfer letters his own scorecards. Researchers who study how people learn have long argued that knowledge learned apart from its use rarely transfers to real situations.

So how do you start? Make it small. Pong, not an RPG. Sell the plain lemonade first. Run it as a sprint of one to four weeks, check in weekly, and finish with a review. What worked? What didn't? What changes next time?

Late is fine. Hidden late is not.

The research behind it

Learning organized around a purposeful whole project. William Heard Kilpatrick, "The Project Method," Teachers College Record (1918), as cited in Sui Learning.
A review of the research on project-based learning, its gains and its limits. John Thomas, "A Review of Research on Project-Based Learning" (Autodesk Foundation, 2000), as cited in Sui Learning.
Knowledge learned apart from its use rarely transfers to real situations. John Seely Brown, Allan Collins, and Paul Duguid, "Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning," Educational Researcher 18, no. 1 (1989), as cited in Sui Learning.
People learn by taking part in real work alongside those who do it. Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Situated Learning (1991), as cited in Sui Learning.

Try this

Use this project checklist. Small first. A sprint of one to four weeks. A plain first version. A weekly check-in. A review at the end. Let your child choose the project, and keep it small enough to finish.

Where this falls short

John Thomas's review of the research covers both the gains and the limits of project-based learning. A project with no clear goal or feedback can drift, which is why this plan uses a short sprint, a weekly check-in and a review. It's no replacement for practice where practice is needed. Sui Learning keeps drills for a chosen field, or for a basic that has fallen badly behind.

Also asked as

What are good first projects for kids?
How do I run a project with my child?
Should kids learn theory or practice first?

The ideas behind this answer

Running projects
Small projects first, in sprints of one to four weeks, shipped plain and reviewed at the end.
Top down
Drive the car before you build the engine. Do first; theory when the doing demands it.
Basics in context
Teach the basics through what the child is already doing, one thing at a time, when it comes up.
Context
No context, no learning.