The teacher toolkit includes a growing set of resources created by teachers practicing Challenge Based Learning. They are offered to help you begin and manage the Challenge Based Learning process. They are meant to be modified and adapted to your particular situation. If you create new resources please share them with the community by submitting them to the toolkit.
A collection of ideas and activities for successfully moving from Challenge to Solution
Potential roles for students to play in the CBL process
A series of online tutorials showing how how a teacher uses the powerful, elegant features of Mac OS X to plan and manage a Sustainable Food project.
A tool for teams to use to organize, track, and document their efforts.
Ideas for reflection prompts that can be used throughout the process.
A document for students to work through the guiding question, activity resource process.
A guide for how technology can be used to support the CBL process.
Document for each team to identify roles and responsibilities.
A step sheet showing how to add a Challenge Proposal to the Community.
A step sheet showing how to add a Solution to the Community.
These resources provide information on how to create and prepare media for submission.
If you develop a resource (rubric, checklist, etc.) that will help others working on Challenge Based Learning share it here and we will add it to the Toolkit
Answer: Yes. Build extra time into your schedule to allow students to access school computers during class, especially during the research phase and while students create their presentations. Consider allowing students to use their personal technology.
Answer: Yes. A challenge can be completed in as much or as little time as you would like. You will still choose the big idea, the essential question, and the challenge. Also, make sure that the challenge you design for your students is one they can address in the amount of available time. You also need to streamline certain stages of the process. For example, while students still work in groups to develop guiding questions, do research, propose solutions, and create a final product, the implementation of the challenge can be limited to individual students working on their own. But remember, when students engage in this type of learning, they don't want to stop working on their projects when the school day is over. Explore ways in which you can help your students continue working beyond the school day.
Answer: Collaboration with other teachers is a best practice for Challenge Based Learning. It helps ensure that the content is multidisciplinary and it allows for students to immerse themselves in content and draw connections between subjects. However, a single teacher and a single class can successfully complete a challenge. You can also collaborate virtually with teachers in other schools in your community or beyond.
Answer: As the teachers in the pilots found, the Challenge Based Learning process lends itself to content mastery. By the end of the pilot, nearly every teacher observed that students had mastered the content well beyond expectations. Many felt that the depth of student learning was remarkable, in fact, much greater than anticipated. Students engaged with the content, worked harder than expected, and demonstrated good critical thinking and collaboration skills. Your task as a teacher is to facilitate this by starting with standards-based content and connecting it to 21st century content and skills throughout the process. Build basic skill practice into the activities and students will see a purpose for gaining the skills.
Answer: The pilot research study found that even students who tended to disengage from school were excited and interested in Challenge Based Learning. Because it connects schoolwork with real life, and because it is structured so differently from what many students are used to, Challenge Based Learning is engaging, even for at-risk students. Your task as a teacher is to present the process and especially the challenge in a real-world context and in an involving and motivating way.
Answer: You can use cooperative and multigrade groupings in which students can work with each other to find and discuss research. Bring experts to your classroom so students can listen. Take advantage of the many video resources that exist on the web so students can watch, listen, and learn. Enable the text-to-speech feature of the Mac OS.
This section includes links to resources and projects that meet the ACOT2 design principles and are complimentary to the Challenge Based Learning approach.
New Technology Foundation (NTF) was established in 1999 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to achieve national education reform with schools that desire to model the Napa New Technology High School.
WebsiteA learning platform where teachers and students create learning projects, participate in a website competition, and browse a library of student projects.
WebsiteThe competition seeks to mobilize the field of Digital Media and Learning through a $2 million open call, supporting learning entrepreneurs, educators, communicators, and innovators. The competition supports pioneers who use new technologies to envision the future of participatory learning.
WebsiteThe largest online community of youth
interested in global issues and creating positive change.
The Future Is Mine (TFIM) is the Consortium for Public Education's initiative that reaches into high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools to connect students to authentic career awareness experiences.
WebsiteA National sustainability challenge that empowers students in every grde level to develop and share environmental solutions.
WebsiteNew Global Citizens educates, equips, and mobilizes young people to help solve the greatest challenges faced by communities around the world by partnering with grassroots organizations that are finding local solutions to local problems.
Website