What is the primary role for the teacher in a PBL classroom?
Admittedly, the front load for the teacher in a PBL classroom is enormous. The entire project, all its documents, all its resources and all its assessments must be designed and in place before students are introduced to the material. Then it gets easy. The teacher becomes a knowledge facilitator. The teacher is granted the space to teach small work groups, provide individual assistance, create specialized work groups that answer specific need to knows. Every PBL teacher we work with has reported feeling energized and refreshed while engaged with students in a project. However, because the front load is so heavy, we recommend that teachers introduce only one or two projects in their first PBL year. It should take 3-5 years to have a fully formed PBL classroom.
