Project-Based Learning at Voyager Academy

Projects at Voyager Academy take many forms. Some encompass many subject areas, connecting multiple fields of thought, and span several weeks. Other projects are contained within a single discipline and may be as short as several days to a week. All, however, offer rich educational experiences in which children are engaged in meaningful work that matters to them through tasks and inquiries designed to meet educational standards. Meaningful projects have several key components:

·         A need to know that provides an authentic reason for learning

·         A driving question to focus investigations and provide purpose and challenge

·         Student choice among options for learning and presentation

·         21^st century skills including collaboration, critical thinking and technology

·         Opportunities for inquiry and innovation

·         Opportunities for achieving best work through feedback, revision, and reflection

·         Public exhibition of work

Through these experiences, students practice and develop the habits of mind and characteristics of life-long learners including persisting, thinking flexibility, striving for accuracy and precision, questioning and posing problems, creating, imagining and innovating, and thinking interdependently.