Project Based Learning

Over 200 area teachers from fifteen public and private schools in grades 6-12 along with six Manchester College faculty members and staff from Science Central participated in PBL101 training at nine locations in Northeast Indiana July through November 2011. Conducted by trainers from the Buck Institute for Education, these institutes introduced teachers to the components of Project–Based Learning(PBL). At the end of the three-day trainings session, participants walked away with a project that they will implement in their classrooms during the 2011-2012 school year.

In addition to the initial PBL 101 training, several of the schools involved in the project designated their own building or district-wide coaches to help support their teachers as they implement PBLs in their classroom. These coaches have received additional training conducted by the National School Reform Faculty in conjunction with Region 8's partnership CELL, the Center for Excellence in Leadership and Learning at the University of Indianapolis.

Additional support to all the schools participating is provided by Region 8’s two “roving” PBL coaches, Al Summers and Bryan Iddings. Both Al and Bryan have had experience in implementing PBLs in their classrooms and have attended the PBL 101 trainings and the coaches’ trainings. These two “roving coaches” work with teachers, school-based coaches, and school instructional leaders to help teachers successfully implement the PBLs they planned during the summer trainings and additional ones they develop during the school year. Additional follow-up will be provided by the Buck Institute when their staff visits returns to visit teachers in their classrooms. For more information on the Buck Institute and PBL, go to the following website:

http://www.bie.org/ .

Funding for Region 8’s School 2.0 project comes from a grant that Region 8 ESC received from the Talent Initiative, which was established in 2009 by the Northeast Indiana Fund and the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne through a grant from the Lilly Endowment.

Round two of PBL 101 trainings will be held during the summer of 2012. For more information on this, contact Amy Leeson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Link to R8 ESC PBL Coaches Site

BIE Webinar Series Recordings