Oskaloosa High School To Host 3rd Annual PBL Showcase

Oskaloosa High School will be hosting their 3rd PBL Showcase night on Monday, January 16th from 5:30 to 7:30. Students from all four grades will be showcasing their projects throughout the high school. We would like you to help us let people in our community know this amazing event is taking place. I have included more information below, but please contact me with more questions. My number at the school is 641-673-3407 ext. 1858. You can also reach me on my cell at 641-295-1652. Thanks for your help in this endeavor.

What is PBL?

Project Based Learning is an approach to teaching and learning that challenges kids to solve complex problems. PBL tasks typically involve “real world” situations, and to be successful, students must use a variety of critical thinking skills and share their results in a public forum.

What does PBL look like at OHS?

Some courses at OHS are almost entirely PBL: band, orchestra, and choir are all PBL, as well as Building Trades.

But PBL works in any classroom, and every teacher at OHS uses PBL activities to challenge and engage students. These may be research projects, business plans, debates, creative endeavors, simulations, and many other new ways for students to apply their learning.

Additionally, OHS teachers have brought their classes together across curriculums to give kids opportunities in PBL. There are some expected pairings, such as the collaboration between math and science classrooms, of course, but teachers have also formed more unexpected partnerships. For example, the Foods II class worked together with the Topics in Algebra class to develop new menu items to be served at OHS.

Some of this years highlights includes cross curricular PBL’s, musical performances, product testing, and concessions by the Spirit Cafe!