The Creative Classroom with John Spencer
May 7, 2026 · 0 min · 12 segments
If you have followed my blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I am a huge proponent of project based learning (or PBL for short). I have a PBL hub with articles and resources you can access. I…
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So without further ado, let's dive into this topic today about PBL, and it's sort of a surprising topic.
To my core, I believe in the power of project-based learning to help students learn and retain the content at a deeper level, while also helping them develop the skills that they'll need as they navigate a complicated and uncertain world.
So what happens with PBL is it is applied learning that allows for deeper retention of information, deeper mastery, better problem-solving.
In other words, all of those things that we think of when it comes to deeper learning.
At the same time, they develop these critical thinking skills, creativity skills, um, that will help them in the future, especially in a world of generative AI.
But today, I wanna explore the question: When should we not have students do PBL? I actually think there are times when the standards don't align with the PBL framework.
In other words, I don't believe that everyone should be using project-based learning at all times.
And so I wanna start with a quick story about why PBL isn't always the best idea.
[lip smack] "How do we get our middle school math teachers to embrace project-based learning?" a principal asks me.
So without further ado, let's dive into this topic today about PBL, and it's sort of a surprising topic.
To my core, I believe in the power of project-based learning to help students learn and retain the content at a deeper level, while also helping them develop the skills that they'll need as they navigate a complicated and uncertain world.
So what happens with PBL is it is applied learning that allows for deeper retention of information, deeper mastery, better problem-solving.
In other words, all of those things that we think of when it comes to deeper learning.
At the same time, they develop these critical thinking skills, creativity skills, um, that will help them in the future, especially in a world of generative AI.
But today, I wanna explore the question: When should we not have students do PBL? I actually think there are times when the standards don't align with the PBL framework.
In other words, I don't believe that everyone should be using project-based learning at all times.
And so I wanna start with a quick story about why PBL isn't always the best idea.
[lip smack] "How do we get our middle school math teachers to embrace project-based learning?" a principal asks me.
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