How can project-based learning help students understand social justice issues?

1 What are social justice issues?

Social justice issues are those that involve the fair and equitable distribution of resources, opportunities, and rights among different groups of people in society. Social justice issues can include topics such as racism, sexism, poverty, environmentalism, human rights, and democracy. Social justice issues are often complex, controversial, and interconnected, and they affect people's lives in various ways.

2 Why use PBL for social justice issues?

PBL can help students understand social justice issues by providing authentic and meaningful learning experiences that connect to their interests, passions, and identities. This method can help students develop the skills and dispositions they need to become active and informed citizens who can address social justice issues in their communities and beyond. Benefits of using PBL for social justice issues include fostering student voice and choice, promoting inquiry and research, supporting collaboration and diversity, enhancing communication and presentation, and inspiring action and impact. PBL allows students to pursue questions and solutions that matter to them, question assumptions and biases, work with peers from different backgrounds, articulate their ideas and arguments, share their findings with authentic audiences, and apply their learning to real-world situations in order to create positive change.

3 How to design PBL projects for social justice issues?

Designing PBL projects for social justice issues requires following key steps to plan and implement effective and engaging learning experiences. Start with a driving question that sparks curiosity and relevance, and is connected to a social justice issue that interests your students. Provide a project scenario that sets the context and challenge, and be sure to include a clear task or goal. Define the project outcomes and expectations to guide learning and assessment, making sure they are aligned with curriculum standards and learning objectives. Plan project activities and resources that support inquiry and product, ensuring they are sequenced, scaffolded, differentiated, accessible, relevant, and varied. Lastly, facilitate the project process and product that showcase the learning and impact by providing guidance, support, feedback, monitoring progress, adjusting instruction as needed, and creating an authentic meaningful outcome or deliverable.

4 Examples of PBL projects for social justice issues

To give you some ideas, here are some examples of PBL projects for social justice issues that you can adapt or modify for your own classroom:

Researching racism, designing a sustainable shelter for homeless people, creating a podcast that showcases the stories of immigrants and refugees, advocating for human rights and democracy in a country facing oppression, and reducing food waste and hunger in the neighborhood are all potential PBL projects. For example, students can research the causes and effects of racism and create a campaign or movement that promotes anti-racism and diversity in their school and community. Or they can design and build a prototype of a shelter that meets the needs and preferences of homeless people, as well as uses renewable energy and materials. Additionally, students can interview immigrants and refugees from different backgrounds and cultures to produce a podcast that shares their experiences, challenges, and contributions to our society. Moreover, they can select a country experiencing human rights crisis to create a persuasive presentation that informs and inspires others to support and defend the rights of its people. Finally, students can investigate food waste and hunger in their neighborhood to develop a plan or proposal that reduces food waste while providing food security for those in need.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?