Fester EDU

PBL practitioners talk a lot about the theories of educational reformer John Dewey, and with good reason. Dewey believed that the best educational experiences were social and interactive processes that allow learners to experience the curriculum through active participation. He thought school worked best when students take a central role in the planning and execution of their own learning, al...

According to a 2018 study conducted by Brigham Young University, the number one issue that parents of teenagers are worried about is no longer drugs, drinking, sex, or rock and roll, it is the use of mobile devices and the impact of all things digital on lives of teens.

Why is this such a growing area of concern for parents? There are several factors that contribute to this statistic. The rise...

When John Dewey said, “Education is not preparation for life, it is life itself” he may not have been specifically referring to National Parks, but anyone who has spent any time in these remarkable places know that they provide an important window into the natural and cultural life of our nation. As such, they are great educational resources that some teachers take advantage of, but many othe...

Before I begin This blog post, a little disclosure will be necessary. I come from a family of teachers, am a teacher myself, and I'm married to someone how has been in education as long as I have known her. Most of the tips that I'm going to be sharing in this particular blog post I came to through a lot of trial-and-error, so don't get the wrong impression. I think I'm a good husband and par...

The internet is a wonderful tool for learning that students today are incredibly lucky to have. But in addition to the vast amounts of knowledge it can share, there are vast amounts of distractions and content that is far too inappropriate for certain age groups.

YouTube is by far one of the most popular sites on the internet with almost 5 billion of its videos being view everyday and 300 hour...

After almost a year of work, my Park Based Learning project is going to finally get some air time! If you're going to be at TIES 18 in beautiful, wintery Minneapolis this year, then consider signing up our pre-conference workshop on Sunday @ 1:00pm.  

Here is our official workshop description;

Experiential learning allows students to explore, question, and share utilizing their e...

Voice and Choice is an important part of strong PBL projects and an essential ingredient in the sausage of student engagement. Without it, buy-in will be limited, students will feel less ownership of their project, and you become the focus of the learning environment instead of the students. At a recent conference in Ohio, one of the participants asked how to help her students narrow down cho...

As the year comes to an end, I have begun meeting with educators from across the country who have gone through their first year trying to create a PBL classroom. There are many success stories that are well worth sharing, but there are also educators confronting predictable problems and trying to get projects or new routines off the ground. The stories are exceptionally important to hear beca...

In a perfect world, you’d be able to take your students to the park associated with their project in order to provide them a rich opportunity to connect their learning to a real and experiential learning experience. But we don’t always live in a perfect world. Planning and facilitating place-based experiences for students is never easy, and budgets, timelines, transportation, and community su...