Buck Institute for Education

Pick a Project
to customize and implement with your students.

Flat Stanley Community Heroes

Students will perform a community hero action, gather data to measure their impact, and publish an online magazine dedicated to someone in their community who they were able to help .

ELA, Social Studies

3rd Grade

The Tower Garden Challenge

Students design and conduct a scientific experiment to test claims that aeroponic growing methods can produce more food in ways that use less land and water compared to traditional soil-based growing methods.

Math, Science

6th, 7th Grade

The Comic Relief Project

Students in groups of four will create a four-page comic and supporting personal essay that highlights a current event from the news headlines of today.

ELA

9th Grade

Back in the Day

In the Back in The Day project, students publish a thoughtful collection of narrative nonfiction writing in which they tell specific family stories of growing up and coming of age.

ELA

11th, 12th Grade

BizWorld

In the BizWorld project, students work in teams to form friendship bracelet companies by raising capital (not actual money, but in a scenario).

ELA, Math

3rd, 4th, 5th Grade

Choose Your Own Adventure

In the Choose Your Own Adventure project, students explore their state and family history by answering the Driving Question, “What makes people take a risk?”

ELA, Social Studies

4th Grade

Community Photojournalists

In Community Photojournalists, students investigate community-based or cultural stories that are eventually packaged as photo essays and audio recordings that adhere to professional photojournalism and publication guidelines.

ELA, Multimedia

4th, 5th, 6th Grade

Cyrano’s Funk

In Cyrano's Funk, students will feel like the characters and themes from this over 100 year old classic piece of literature are playing out on their Facebook page today.

ELA

9th, 10th Grade

Design It Clean

In the Design It Clean project, students work in teams to develop water filters that are dependable, affordable, and can provide clean water for specific communities in the real world.

Engineering, Science

9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Grade

Domino Effect

In Domino Effect, students find out how much Domino's is really charging for pizza and explore this even further in three project tasks, Chain Gang, Cover Me and Top It Like It's Hot.

Math

8th Grade

Fall of Javert

In Fall of Javert, students use quadratic functions about how objects fall to determine how high Javert’s bridge must have been and explore this even further in two project tasks, Upholding the Law (of Gravity) and Actually, It is Rocket Science.

Math

9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Grade

Make a Difference

In the Make a Difference project, students create plans for one specific thing they can do in their community, in partnership with a relevant local organization.

ELA, Math, Social Studies

2nd Grade

Mazer Tag

In the Mazer Tag project, students will create and play a game in which the object is to maneuver a laser through a maze of obstacles to hit a target.

Math

10th, 11th Grade

New-Tritional Info

In New-Tritional Info, students use rates and proportions to calculate how long they’d have to exercise to burn off different McDonald’s menu items and explore this even further in two project tasks, Have It Your Way and Would You Like Fries with That?

Math

6th Grade

On Your Mark

In On Your Mark, students use proportions to determine what would happen if Olympic races were organized differently and explore this even further in two project tasks, Field Day and The Quick and the Tall.

Math

7th Grade

Resilience Café

During Resilience Café, students learn about resilient heroes from the past and present, focusing on African-American history from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement.

ELA

8th Grade

Schoolyard Habitat Project

In Schoolyard Habitat Project, students design and implement a plan to enhance their school campus by creating insect habitats, providing nesting sites for birds, planting native plants or even removing weeds and invasive plants.

ELA, Science

3rd, 4th, 5th Grade

The 22nd California Mission

In The 22nd California Mission project, students gain knowledge about the mission period of California history by engaging in a task that requires critical thinking and creativity.

ELA, Social Studies

4th Grade

Three Shots

In Three Shots, students will compute the probabilities of a Memphis basketball team win, loss, or tie when fouled at the buzzer and explore this even further in two project tasks, To Foul or Not to Foul and That Is The Question.

Math

9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Grade

What Will They Think?

In the What Will They Think? project, students use their understanding of graphing to make predictions, based on a small set of responses, about how a larger group of people will answer questions about ideas for new food products.

Math

8th Grade

Xbox Xponential

In Xbox Xponential, students write an exponential function based on the Atari 2600 and Moore's Law and explore this even further in three project tasks, More Laws, Power Play and What Gives, Nintendo?

Math

9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Grade

more projects 

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to learn how to design and implement projects

Postponed Indefinitely

We suggest downloading BIE’s Project Based Teaching Rubric. This rubric describes beginning, developing, and Gold Standard levels for Project Based Teaching Practices for K-12 teachers. It also features detailed, concrete indicators that illustrate what it means to teach in a PBL environment. Teachers and school leaders can use this rubric to reflect on their practice and plan for professional growth.

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