Grass Valley Elementary

Project Based Learning-

Maker Education

 

Grass Valley Elementary has embarked on a culture shift. This movement is away from

direct instruction and  whole class, lock step teaching and towards small group,

differentiated instruction and personalized learning based on students' interests and needs.

​

Facilitated by our Teacher on Special Assignment, Paula Mitchell,  all classrooms,

K-5 both special and general education,  are engaging in Project Based Learning

and Maker Education. 

 

What is Project Based Learning and Maker Education?

Project Based Learning is a method which engages students in learning through 

sustained focus on a project and usually brings together many different subject areas. 

Maker Education focused on bringing together Science, Math, Technology, Engineering,

and Art (S.T.E.A.M.) in a student-centered creative way. Making combines new technologies

with old-school arts and crafts, and vocational education.

​

Why Project Based Learning and Maker Education at Grass Valley?

The goal is to increase student:

• engagement through hands on learning with a real world focus

• ownership of learning

• creativity, flexibility, adaptability

• ability to think deeply, critically, and over long periods of time to solve complex problems

• awareness of the ability to be  agents of change in their communities

• knowledge that they are producers, not just consumers

​

To help promote hands-on education, Grass Valley now has its very own makerspace, the Wonder Workshop, which is a place for the school community to create, make, and learn.