This is a great video to introduce the idea that failure isn't failure if you keep on trying. It's only failure if you quit.
This can be used to introduce PBL, genius hour, or any time your students are struggling or want to give up easily.

Consider having the students watch the film, then give them a reflection question. Have them re-watch the video with your question in mind and then respond.

Science Background:
Substances can mixed in order to produce substances of completely different states.
Materials: corn syrup, 2 beakers, 2 colours of food colouring, stirring rod, vinegar, baking soda, vegetable oil, teaspoon, water, 50mL graduated cylinder, medicine dropper
Directions:
1. Pour 30mL of corn syrup into a beaker. Stir in 3 drops of food colouring. Sprinkle a heaping spoonful of baking soda on top of the corn syrup.
2. Measure 30mL of water into a graduated cylinder. Hold the beaker at an angle and carefully pour the water down one side. Add 30mL of vegetable in the same way.
3. In a separate beaker pour 20mL of vinegar and add 3 drops of food colouring.
4. Fill the medicine dropper with the vinegar mixture.
5. Position the dropper so the tip is at the very bottom of the beaker with corn syrup. Squeeze the bulb to release the vinegar into the first beaker.

"Now more than ever, families need ideas and resources to help manage learning at home. So we’ve created a new resource for you to share with your students’ parents or caregivers.
This Teachable Moment, a free eBook available for download now, offers an intro to Project Based Learning and 21 easy-to-implement, “follow the recipe” PBL projects, designed for children of all ages and capabilities.
These projects can be used to keep kids learning, growing, and discovering during this summer, while giving families the space and time needed to stay productive."

Get the eBook - Download it and get 21 ready to go PBL activities!

Your mission is to plan a 1 week adventure holiday for 12 math students anywhere in Saskatchewan. At the end of the project, you will have a chance to “sell” your adventure holiday to other students and hope they choose yours! You have $2500 a person.

Math Learning Goals:

· Add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals (N7.2)

· Compare and order fractions, decimals and mixed numbers (N7.3)

· Convert between fractions and terminating/repeating decimals (N7.3)

· Solve problems involving fractions, decimals and percents (N7.3, N7.4)

· Adding and Subtracting Integers (N7.6)

· Developing and Evaluating Expressions (P7.1, P7.2)

On June 10, 2024, the Sun West School Division Grade-Alike Planning Team hosted a Share Out Day in which they presented their collaborative projects and provided links to all resources explored throughout the year. The teacher recommended resources for Grades 7, 8, and 9 are available in the GAP Hub. This participant handout contains information about each of the learning topics and includes learning outcomes and links to informative websites as recommeded by the guest presenters. 

"This tool allows you to create presentations, infographics, video presentations, resumes, and more.

It includes many templates with access to photos, animations, and illustrations giving the user the ability to make any image or text interactive.

Content can be shared through a link or downloaded.

Teachers can make materials to share with students or other teachers, and students can use to build resumes or design a product for summative assessment." (AASL)

The gamification options look really good within this tool. You (or your students) can make a variety of different games to test content.

There are some great product choices in here to demonstrate learning.

This interactive notebook can walk teachers and students through the process of doing a Genius Hour project.

Students should download a copy and complete it with their own ideas.

This project is a year long in-depth inquiry project into the Pacific Rim Region and is fully based on the grade seven social studies curriculum. It does not function as a curriculum replacement but as a "vehicle" to learn the suggested concepts and strategies. The difference is that in this type of approach, you have an individual connection to a region. The project will connect to real-world issues by exploring how geographical features, climate, and available resources influence different Pacific Rim countries, both historically and now. Throughout the entire year it is always easy for you to see the importance and practicality of learning such skills.

Options are provided for I DO, WE DO and YOU DO for this very well-planned Grade 7/8 project.

This PBL leads students to study and analyze people and events connected with "English Civil War and Glorious Revolution". The PBL includes disclosures for the students to consider and assessments (formative and summative). A PowerPoint of pictures of the historically important people is attached.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge Objectives (K) - The student will:

1. Know that all nations must determine how to use their available human and material resources and that determination will involve choices among perceived/real demands on those resources.
2. Know that scarcity is the relationship that occurs because the unlimited wants exceeds the limited resources available to meet those wants.
3. Know that major events/situations such as wars will affect the resources a nation has available and will influence how those resources are used.
4. Know that distinct populations will seek to have control over the decision making process which affect their lives.
5. Know that groups seeking to fulfill their agendas have a number of alternative methods to achieve those agendas including the use of violent and nonviolent tactics.
6. Know that nations will sometimes consider certain geographic regions, including other nations, as being strategic importance to their interests and will seek to have a preponderance of influence over that region.
7. Know that every society has to establish some fundamental criteria that can be used to justify the allocation of supreme power within that society to certain individual or groups.

This production is a stop animation video that depicts the history of land settlement in western Canada in the 1800s. The entire video was written and produced by my grade 3/4 students at Lucky Lake School. We studied the history, then they created the storyboard and wrote the script. All of the scenes were flimed with iPads on three different sets with students in the shop. I did the editing and added the sound and their prerecorded narration. All of the props where hand made from scratch or recycled materials. The entire project took one month to complete.

This is an excellent example of Project Based Learning in action!

Science Background: Light travels in straight lines, and this activity allows students to observe light and think critically about how they experience light in their lives. A common misconception for students is that the light comes from their eyes to light up the object, so drawing rays as arrowheads that show the direction of the light is a key concept.
Materials: index cards, ruler, coloured markers or pencils, hole punch, sticky tack, drinking straw, flashlight or ray box, beaker or glass, water

Science Background: Sound waves behave in the same way as light and water waves. This activity allows students to “see” sound.
Materials: plastic wrap, small yogurt container, elastic band, 1mL salt, tuning fork, water

"In this e-mail based course, you will explore essential aspects of project-based learning design while also considering strategies for creating accessible and equitable online project-based learning experiences.

This course culminates in you creating an outline and planner to design and facilitate PBL in online spaces and for distance-learning."

This course is free and email based.
It should take teachers 4-10 hours to complete.

Come out ready to get your PBL rolling!

The 5-Step Process for Authentic Learning Experiences That Hit Standards and Your Curriculum

"This high quality PBL unit – designed for English, math, and science – invites students and teachers to explore solutions for hunger and malnutrition around the world. For every piece of artwork submitted from the project, the Bezos Family Foundation will donate $3 (up to $700,000) to youth-focused nutrition programs."

You will have to provide your information to download the project.

You could use this project to participate in the Hunger Challenge. https://www.studentsrebuild.org/challenges/hunger

Science Background:
• Liquids have characteristic properties based on the molecules they are made of.
• As different molecules are combined they can have different properties.
• Temperature can impact molecules.
• Physical changes of materials
Materials: Ice Cubes, 1 cup half and half, 1/2 cup Kosher salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 pint-size ziplock bag, 1 gallon-size ziplock bag, Any of your favorite ice cream mixins