10 Proven Best Practices for Effective Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) holds a lot of potential for boosting student achievement and engagement —but only if it’s properly integrated into the framework of a curriculum. While hands-on activities are essential to project-based learning, learning by doing is only part of the equation.

When we talk about project-based learning, we’re following the definition put forth by PBLWorks, where students “gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.”

Several essential elements contribute to making project-based learning a true framework and not just “doing a project”:

• The project itself is the unit of learning
• It is driven by student inquiry
• Both the product and process are the focus
• It is aligned to academic standards
• Students collaborate and receive
  guidance from teachers
• It has real-world context and applications
• Results can be shared beyond the classroom

Read on for recommended best practices and tips on how you can set the standard for project-based learning in the classroom.

Importance of PBL in STEM Education

Research shows that Project-Based Learning (PBL) does more than build academic and 21st-century skills—it actively fosters STEM identity, a key predictor of long-term success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. By engaging students in real-world problem-solving, PBL helps them see themselves as capable STEM thinkers and contributors.

According to the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), PBL increases retention, boosts conceptual understanding, and enhances motivation—particularly for historically underserved student groups. It also builds the teamwork, critical thinking, and real-world relevance that are essential for success in STEM fields.

NMSI recognizes that PBL positively impacts STEM education by:

• Enhancing engagement and retention
• Helping to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills
  Making abstract concepts more concrete
• Demonstrating real-world application

The centering of a meaningful problem or challenge as “the lesson” not only enhances critical thinking and problem-solving skills—it also fosters collaborative skills essential for STEM fields.

Best Practice 1: Align Projects with Curriculum Standards

To ensure project-based learning meets educational standards and maintains academic rigor, start by backward planning. Identify the specific standards or learning outcomes, then design the project to align directly with them. Each task or activity within the project should support those standards.

Use rubrics tied to the standards to assess student work. This helps maintain consistent expectations and ensures students are demonstrating the required knowledge and skills.

Implementation Tip:

Use curriculum standards as a checklist to guide your planning and assessment. Lean on and utilize existing resources—such as SmartLab’s standards-aligned STEM curriculum—to design projects and introduce a meaningful problem/challenge.

Best Practice 2: Design Relevant, Real-World Projects

This is one area where STEM education and PBL really connect. Today, nearly every field—from agriculture to art and business to healthcare—employs varying degrees of STEM. Giving students hands-on, STEM-rich projects helps them build the skills for the modern workplace: critical thinking, data literacy, collaboration, and innovation.

Embedding authentic problems also shifts students from wondering why they learn concepts to asking how they can better apply them in their own lives. And when projects mirror the kinds of tasks professionals face, students begin to see themselves in those roles.

Implementation Tip:

Start by identifying challenges that exist in students’ communities or in the broader world—things like food insecurity, climate change, or accessibility issues. For example, projects in environmental science education can be built from students’ concerns about their local environment, which can then have positive impacts on the larger community.

Best Practice 3: Foster a Collaborative Learning Environment

Project-based learning is built on teamwork, which requires the promotion of communication and collaboration. Be intentional about structuring teamwork. Start by assigning roles within groups (like facilitator, researcher, designer, presenter) so every student has a clear purpose and responsibility. Rotate these roles to build a range of skills.

Set norms for effective communication—such as active listening, respectful feedback, and shared decision-making—and model these behaviors often. Use protocols like peer critique or structured discussions to guide interactions and keep collaboration focused. Encourage interdependence by designing tasks that require contributions from all team members.

Implementation Tip:

Look for ways you can design projects to encourage collaboration and then arrange the classroom to facilitate group work, similar to how SmartLab’s project-based learning programs are designed. Try to employ these guidelines:

• Structure projects so that no one person can do it all, but every member plays an important role
• Start projects with quick challenges or icebreakers to build trust and comfort within teams
• Create paired workspaces to encourage teamwork on assignments

Best Practice 4: Integrate Technology Effectively

Use technology not just as a tool, but as a bridge between the classroom and the modern world. In real workplaces, tech is embedded in nearly every task and is used to analyze data, design prototypes, manage projects, and communicate results. The same should be true in the classroom.

Use tech to help students prototype ideas, test theories, gather real-time feedback, or share their work with audiences. Technology can also be used to build connections outside of the classroom. Students can interview experts, collaborate across schools or time zones, and access current information that keeps their projects grounded in reality.

Implementation Tip:

Find ways to weave technology into every phase of a PBL experience, from inquiry to presentation:

• Direction and facilitation: Interactive whiteboards and learning management systems
• Inquiry and research: Google Search and Google Scholar
• Collaboration: Google Workspace, Nearpod, and MS Teams
• Creation and prototyping: Canva, Scratch, Adobe Express
• Analysis and feedback: Google Sheets, FigJam, Peergrade
• Presentation: Canva, Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, YouTube

Best Practice 5: Encourage Student Autonomy and Choice

Find ways to build more student voice and choice into the structure of projects. This doesn’t mean letting students do whatever they want; it means giving them meaningful decisions to make within clear boundaries tied to learning goals.

Start by discussing choices in the problem or topic. Let students select an issue that matters to them, or choose from a few well-crafted options that all align with standards. Next, offer flexibility in how they work: group or solo, digital or analog, written or visual. Be sure to build in checkpoints where students set goals, reflect, and revise. This helps them take responsibility for their process and builds ownership over the final product.

Implementation Tip:

Give students a voice in how they demonstrate learning by using available tools and technology. Some learners might want to make a video, others a podcast, website, prototype, or live presentation. The intention matters more than the format, though there is an opportunity for students to learn additional skills as they work with new tools to put their presentations together.

Best Practice 6: Implement Continuous Assessment and Feedback

In PBL, assessment is an ongoing process. To support learning and ensure students stay on track, make sure to implement continuous assessment and feedback throughout a project.

Start by breaking the project into clear milestones or checkpoints. At each stage, use formative assessments like observation, quick reflections, drafts, peer reviews, or informal presentations to gauge understanding and progress.

Give timely, specific feedback that helps students reflect, revise, and grow. Use rubrics aligned with learning goals so students know what quality work looks like and how to improve.

Implementation Tip:

The key to assessment in PBL is that it must happen continuously, not just at the end. You’ll have to find ways to offer feedback throughout the project. Look for examples of assessment that are designed to offer feedback on their different milestones, from their planning and collaboration to their different checkpoints.

It’s less about assigning grades or a pass/fail designation and more about supporting them in making progress. Make your assessment specific, focused on growth, and tied to clear goals so students can revise and improve.

Best Practice 7: Provide Professional Development for Educators

To effectively facilitate PBL, educators need to build the right skills and experiences. A 2024 summit on performance assessment in PBL—hosted by PBLWorks and featuring national education leaders—emphasized that best practices must include professional development for educators on how to use performance assessment.

High-quality assessment is essential in improving PBL instruction and determining student accomplishment and achievement. To ensure optimal outcomes, educators shouldn’t be left to “figure it out” on their own. As the PBLWorks puts it, teachers need support “through and with curriculum-embedded performance assessment products.”

Implementation Tip:

Educators and administrators should collaborate in either developing or researching professional development opportunities specific to PBL assessment. Explore how you can take advantage of all available resources. For example, facilities with a SmartLab have access to over 50 hours of personalized professional development and facilitator training, including ongoing curriculum development and annual conferences.

Best Practice 8: Create a Supportive Physical Learning Environment

A well-designed space should be flexible and student-centered, able to adapt to the needs of the project and the people doing the work. Start by arranging furniture to promote teamwork, use clusters, pods, or open tables where students can easily face each other and share materials. Make space for movement, brainstorming, and hands-on work.

Include collaborative tools like whiteboards, sticky notes, large paper, and shared digital displays so students can sketch ideas, plan projects, and track progress together. If possible, offer areas for both group work and quiet focus, giving students a choice based on their task or learning preferences.

A supportive space should also reflect student ownership. Showcase work-in-progress, highlight student-created visuals throughout the classroom, and let the space evolve with projects.

Implementation Tip:

Be mindful of designing classrooms to comply with ADA guidelines and facilitate learning for all, similar to how SmartLab’s turnkey solutions are designed.

• All learners, regardless of ability, should have access to the same resources.
• All storage areas and equipment should be easily accessible to all students.
• Technology should always be in support of learning outcomes, not included for its own sake.

Best Practice 9: Incorporate Reflection and Self-Assessment

To encourage students to think critically about their learning process, educators should make reflection a regular, structured part of the project. Set reminders to encourage students to reflect at key points: after planning, mid-project, after feedback, and post-presentation.

Use guiding questions like:

• What did I learn today, and how did I learn it?
• What challenges did I face, and how did I work through them?
• How did our team collaborate, and what could we do differently?
• What would I change if I did this again?

Implementation Tip:

Build self-assessment and regular peer feedback sessions into the process to help learners build awareness and accountability. Use tools like journals, video reflections, exit tickets, or peer interviews to capture and share these thoughts. When learners analyze their own work—and each other’s—they deepen their understanding and refine their skills.

Best Practice 10: Build Community Partnerships

One of the biggest advantages of PBL is how it relates to real-world issues and concerns. But, with limited resources, finding ways to forge real-world partnerships can also be one of the biggest challenges.

Educators should start by identifying organizations, businesses, or civic groups that align with a project’s theme. Reach out to nonprofits, local governments, STEM professionals, artists, or entrepreneurs with a clear, specific request:

• Would you like to attend a class as a guest speaker?
• Are you able to help give feedback on student ideas?
• Are you open to having our class visit your site?
• Could you help me frame this problem so it is authentic?

Reach out to these partners as early as possible so their input can shape the direction of the project. This builds buy-in and ensures their role feels meaningful.

Implementation Tip:

Having students assist in community outreach not only makes the request stronger, it helps prepare learners to interact at a professional level.

• Show students how to write clear, respectful emails or letters to potential community partners.
• Help students craft and rehearse short explanations of their project goals and why they’re reaching out.
• Assign small groups the task of managing communication with specific community contacts.
• Don’t forget to show your appreciation. Have the class send thank-you notes, share social media posts, or showcase community contributions during student presentations.

Project-based learning prepares students for future challenges by building the skills they’ll need to think critically, solve real problems, collaborate effectively, and communicate clearly—just like they’ll be expected to do in the real world.

PBL also promotes adaptability and resilience. As students work through open-ended projects, they learn to deal with setbacks, revise their thinking, and persist through challenges. Most importantly, when students have a voice in their learning and see the real-world impact of their work, they’re more motivated and prepared to take on whatever comes next.

With project-based learning (PBL), students tackle problems that connect them to their lived experience, thereby increasing their classroom engagement. And when students actively participate in their learning, their knowledge retention expands.