Project Based Learning is built into the structure of the Technologies curriculum.

Project Based Learning can be approached in several different ways.

· ePBL, where the motivation is extrinsic, external to the student, is represented by worksheets or instruction guides, step by step tutorials, etc. where a problem set by the teacher, instruction guide writer, or tutorial writer, to produce a predetermined solution that students will replicate.

· iPBL, in which the focus is on intrinsic motivation, permits students to choose how they go about solving a problem, with different solutions to their peers, and can also give students the choice of the problem they will solve, and thus have not only different solutions, but solutions to different problems, than their peers.

There will usually be a progression, from ePBL to iPBL as students’ progress in grades through the Digital Technologies curriculum.

· F-2 students plan with teacher support, simple steps and follow directions to complete their own projects or manage their own role within team projects.

· In 3-6 increasing responsibility for specific roles within a project with increasing levels of collaboration and teamwork.

With a shift from teacher to student project management, this changes the role of the teacher in the classroom, from instructor to facilitator.

Student understanding of how ICT can be used in solving problems should also be developed, such as digital timelines for planning and managing project stages, and communication and collaboration tools to manage group work.

Collaboration and teamwork are essential 21C skills and students need to be taught how to

work in teams, the advantages of doing so, and the roles of leadership and followership.

· In F-2 students should manage their own role within teams.

· By 3-8 students should take responsibility for specific roles within a project with increasing levels of collaboration and teamwork.

Students should develop an understand that teams bring:

· a broader range of skills;

· a variety of viewpoints and increased adaptability to ways of solving problems;

· can be more efficient - everyone working to their strengths; and

· can build acceptance of diversity and difference.

They should be aware of the challenges of teamwork such as resistance to change, communication difficulties, social dynamics, and general classroom management.

Positive conflict, can lead to healthy competition, spur creativity and motivate students, bring to light and highlight problems, so that they can be addressed, identify issues of importance and passion, and build self-esteem and resilience.

Team formation and dynamics can be challenging for students at all levels, but students should progressively take responsibility for these roles and develop leadership in managing them.

Team selection, based on project needs over social groupings can be supported through application processes, resumes of skills useful to the team in solving problems, assigning team leaders, student selection panels, anonymous voting processes, or external team selection bodies.

Parallels with sport and drama selection processes can assist, where the project goal is the focus.

Collaboration can include seeking out assistance, from another student's, teams, their teacher, other teachers, other adults, experts, and organisations, locally and globally.

Students should gain increasing experience in outsourcing and remixing, allocating some aspects of their project to others, and including the work of others as components of their project.

Problems should not always be framed as negatives but also opportunities to do new things, be innovative, and entrepreneurial.

Solving for X is a different way of thinking, that attempts to change the world through developing innovative solutions to significant problems, often using the latest new technologies.

· xProblems address huge problems, not simple ones;

· xSolutions propose radical new ways to address xProblems;

· xTechnologies are breakthroughs that permit new opportunities to develop xSolutions to xProblems;

· xProblems develop in scale, from issues affecting themselves, their family, or close friends, to include their classmates, neighbours, school community, local neighbourhood, country, and then to envisioning solutions at an international and global scale;

· xProblems develop in scope, from affecting only themselves, or a few people, to being useful to everyone on earth;

· xProblems develop in time-frame, from solutions to immediate needs, to those in the near future, through to those that may affect them during their lifetime, and then for future generations; and

· xSolutions develop in ambition, from making small incremental changes that slowly improve technologies and processes over time, to big, revolutionary changes.

Moonshot Thinking is envisaging a change that is 10, 100, 1000 times better than currently solutions.

Moon Shot thinking involves risk, they fail, and fail often. Schooling trains students to be risk averse, framing the taking of risks as a negative - especially through assessment. To encourage Moonshot Thinking, assessment should reward risk, and in PBL this is possible, by focusing on the process, rather than the product or solution

Students should be rewarded for identifying risks in the solutions they propose, and for taking them anyway - in the considered hope of overcoming the challenges involved and producing a solution beyond what they are certain of achieving.

Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development theory suggest learning most often occurs when students attempt to do things beyond which they already know how to do.

Teachers should set high expectations to what students might achieve, and assess in ways that reward rather than penalising students doing likewise.

Classrooms can learn from innovative industry practice, where high expectations are set - Moonshots, and while most will fail, through the process involved in trying, the learning that occurs as a result, and the outcomes from those that do succeed, they change the world.