A big part of DBL is creating problems for the students so that they can learn how to solve problems.
It also encourages students to take ownership of their learning and personalize it to what matters to them.”
The Design-Based Learning Project created a Starter City Guidebook to show teachers how to build a city in their classroom, one of the cornerstones of the Design-Based Learning Project.
This K-12 Guidebook provides:
- A step-by-step plan for getting students ready to build a Starter City of the Future with criteria to set limits for assessment
- A description of how building a Starter City of the Future connects to required lessons organized around Themes/Big Topics and Essential Questions named in the K-12 State Standards (Community, Sustainability, Protection, Energy, and Climate Change, etc.)
- Ways to use a Starter City of the Future to engage students in practicing back-and-forth questioning and higher-level thinking skills
- Examples of practical basic and advanced K-12 Guided Lessons across subject content areas, connecting a student-built City to required curriculum
- A brief history of Doreen Gehry Nelson and a description of her Backwards Thinking Design-Based Learning time tested methodology.