the audience is generally outside the school

can be outlined in details on one piece (or even two pieces) of paper by the teacher

the ‘teacher work’ mainly occurs after the project is complete

Are more about the end-product and less about the learning and process

Input from peers, teachers, community members, experts, and others can help guide and improve the project

The audiences for projects are generally in the school

The ‘teacher work’ is done mainly before and during the process itself

is based on directions and criteria

can be done at home without teacher guidance or collaboration

depends on background knowledge, learner choice, technology tools, support from others, and dozens of other factors that result in a process of learning that produces very different results and ‘projects’

‘turned in’ rather than ‘published,’ presented, or otherwise managed on an ongoing basis

often based on a driving question and ongoing inquiry, discovery, and iteration

less open-ended and more uniform

includes ‘need to knows’ and progress checkpoints

In a high school math class, students are asked to do research on a famous mathematician and make a presentation about him or her.

After a two-week unit on the history of the 1960s that ended with a test, students spend two days staging a mock protest and hippie gathering, with costumes, props, and music.

Students consider the driving question, “Why did civilizations fall from their Golden Ages, and what lessons can we learn from what happened?” as they research various ancient civilizations and create museum exhibits to share their answers.

Students make posters at home to illustrate ways to save water and energy, and put them up on the walls of the classroom.

Students investigate how waste in local waterways contributes to the problem of plastic in the ocean. They propose solutions to the problem and present them to city officials.

Students launch bottle rockets at the end of a physics/math unit, to apply what they have learned.

Students create mobiles with various geometric shapes, which are hung in the classroom.

In a middle school English Language Arts class, students create a fan fiction website, including a feature that enables editing and giving feedback so other students can submit their writing.