Breakout Sessions

Breakout Sessions will be repeated several times over the course of the two days, so conference attendees will have the option of attending most sessions.

Planning Engaging Projects Through Intentional Inquiry and Integration

with Sara Lev

Session Description

In this session, we will explore how to intentionally plan for PBL by integrating key knowledge, foundational skills, and dispositions while also honoring student questions and incorporating engaging learning experiences. We will unpack two common misconceptions. First, that content and skills must be taught in advance of a unit in order for children to be successful. In PBL, we are invited to teach content and skills throughout a project, engaging children in authentic, interconnected and meaningful ways. The second misconception lies in the fact that the “research” required in PBL is out of reach for young children. We will learn how to plan opportunities for students to investigate, explore, and experiment through sustained inquiry, organize student questions, and how to leverage these questions to engage children in the learning process, so projects are rich and meaningful.  

Attend this workshop to: 

  • Learn to integrate key knowledge, skills and dispositions into any early childhood PBL unit using a three-layered approach.

  • Learn to leverage student questions and organize them in purposeful ways to plan engaging projects. 

  • Redefine the concept of “research” to include a variety of learner-centered practices that honor student questions and sustain inquiry throughout a project. 

  • Engage with fellow educators to share best practices for early childhood PBL.

Purposeful Literacy Instruction: Leveraging Early Literacy Structures Within the Context of a Projec 

with Amanda Clark

Session Description

In this session, we will dispel the common misconception that young children must be fluent readers and writers to fully participate in Project Based Learning. We will broaden our definition of literacy, to include meaning making and inquiry alongside reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language development. As a community of learners, we will identify purposeful literacy structures that are crucial for emergent and early literacy instruction as we build a holistic view of literacy that can be developed through Project Based Learning. We will use collaboration and critical thinking to identify opportunities for utilizing purposeful literacy structures, stand alone lessons, and skill development activities in early childhood project plans. 

Attend this workshop to: 

  • Embrace a more holistic definition of literacy, integrating meaning-making with reading, writing, speaking, listening, inquiry, and language development in the context of PBL.

  • Collaboratively identify purposeful literacy structures crucial for emergent and early literacy, emphasizing acquisition, meaning, and transfer.

  • Learn how to intentionally plan meaningful, comprehensive literacy-rich learning experiences within a PBL unit.

  • Engage with fellow educators to share best practices for early childhood PBL.

Reflection, Feedback, and Revision: Taking an Active Role in the Learning Process 

with Erin Starkey

Session Description

Join us as we explore a variety of strategies that can help young learners take an active role throughout a PBL unit through reflection, feedback, and revision. We will explore how to intentionally embed reflection practices throughout a unit in ways that support young children’s growing self-awareness and metacognition. We will also learn about and engage in critique protocols that can be utilized with young children in order to help them learn what it looks like, sounds like and feels like to give and receive feedback, and make revisions to their work. Together we will dispel the common misconception that children are too young to engage in these key elements of PBL, and are, in fact, capable and independent learners who can confidently participate in the learning process.

Attend this workshop to:

  • Deepen our understanding of why reflection, feedback and revision are essential to students’ learning process and engagement during PBL. 

  • Learn how to scaffold and develop students’ reflection, feedback and revision skills as you plan for a PBL unit, as well as outside of a PBL project. 

  • Learn key features of effective feedback in early childhood PBL 

  • Engage with fellow educators to share best practices for early childhood PBL

From Silos to School Wide:

Leading PBL at Your School

with Dr. Brandon Wiley


Session Description

The power of Project Based Learning takes hold when it’s a consistent and pervasive instructional approach across an entire school. This session will focus on how the Alexander Dawson School is moving PBL from the fringes to the mainstream in all classrooms EC - 8. Intended for school administrators, teacher leaders, or any teachers who are currently working alone and want to spread PBL to their colleagues, we will discuss practical ways to deepen PBL practice in your classroom and school. You’ll hear from Dawson administrators and teacher leaders about how they have trained and supported teachers to ensure continuity and alignment between their early childhood and lower school program.

Attend this workshop to: 

  • Discuss implementation strategies to “roll out” PBL in stages based on faculty ability, interest and readiness

  • Interact with Dawson teacher leaders to learn how to anticipate and overcome implementation hurdles

  • Examine teacher-created resources that help develop school-wide common language, provide just-in-time support to teachers, and deepen overall PBL practice

  • Develop a 30/60/90 day plan for when you return to your school

Dr. Brandon Wiley is an accomplished educator who currently serves as the Chief Academic Officer at The Alexander Dawson School, a PreK-8 independent school in Las Vegas. His experience as a classroom teacher, school & district administrator, national nonprofit leader, and international education consultant provides him with a diverse perspective on education-related topics. Prior to joining Dawson, Dr. Wiley spent 10 years working in senior leadership for several education nonprofit organizations leading professional learning efforts as the Executive Director of Asia Society’s International Studies Schools Network, Senior Director of School Development for Sprinpoint, and then Chief Program Officer for PBLWorks (Buck Institute for Education).

Introducing Young Learners to Design Thinking Through Engaging Projects

with Rich Lehrer

Session Description

In August of 2021, The Alexander Dawson School launched our K-4 Design Lab, a new program that introduces our younger students to the world of design thinking. In this session, Dawson’s Director of Academic Innovation and Design, Rich Lehrer, will provide an overview of this program and touch on such things as: the K-2 design curriculum that we teach, the rationale behind creating such a program, features of the space that we created to allow this work to be done, the thinking behind the scheduling and staffing decisions we made, the ways in which our Design Lab curriculum intersects with Project Based Learning, and the ways in which our K-4 Design Lab program prepares students for our Middle School Design Technology program.

Workshop Outcomes/Attend this workshop to: 

  • Understand the components of a successful Early Childhood and Lower Elementary School design program.

  • See evidence of successful student learning in the field of design and design thinking.

  • Explore ways to teach design thinking to young learners irrespective of what resources, equipment, and spaces are available.

  • Connect with other educators who are interested in addressing the challenges and benefits of teaching design to young learners.

  • Visit our K-4 Design Lab and our new MS Design Lab in order to fully appreciate the scope of this work.

Rich Lehrer currently serves as the Director of Academic Innovation and Design at The Alexander Dawson School in Las Vegas, NV and, as such, leads Dawson’s PBL and Design Technology initiatives. Rich served as a National Faculty member for PBLWorks from 2015-2020, co-created the Principals Training Center's "Problem, Project, and Design Based Teaching" course for international educators, and co-facilitates the Experiential Learning course for early career teachers at Columbia University’s Klingenstein Summer Institute.