6th grade students were introduced to hardships around the world through literature. Students selected a topic they were interested in and researched that topic. Then they collaborated with a team of peers and created a tri-fold poster board display about their topic. These were displayed in the media center and parents and other classes were invited to come in. The guests of the exposition were encouraged to ask the teams questions about their topics, allowing the students to further demonstrate the knowledge and passion they had for their topic. The guests also voted on the teams that had the best information and the most knowledge about their topic.

Students will act as Earth scientists to research, plan, and design a prototype/model of an object that will provide a solution for recycling, composting, or reusing existing materials in our school. They will research various recycling, composting, and reuse methods and relate it to trash generated at school.

Scenario
The Three Little Piglets need to buy materials to make their houses. They go to the local Home Improvement store to purchase their materials. As an employee of the local Home Improvement store, the Three Little Piglets ask you where the materials are that they can purchase to build a house. You show them the materials and they see that they can only purchase straw, sticks, and bricks. Pig One buys a wheelbarrow full of straw. Pig Two buys a wheelbarrow full of sticks. Pig Three buys a wheelbarrow full of bricks. At the store, the store manager tells the pigs that it will be a lot easier to carry their materials home if they put them into groups and secure them tightly. You will determine how many pieces of straw, sticks and bricks each pig purchased. You will determine how each pig bundles their materials and how much is in each bundle. You will write a letter to the store manager about how your way of bundling each pig's materials is efficient.

You have been asked, by the Service Club at your school, to pass out flyers on recycling in your county. Because your county is big, it will take you a while to reach every house. To make your flyers, you need lots of paper. Each ream of paper has 500 sheets in it. You will need to determine how many reams you will need to make your flyers. You will also submit a flyer to passed out to the county.

***NOTE

When this PBL was originally created NC had not yet adopted it's new standards. This can be adapted to the new standards, if needed.

The Cafeteria Manager at your school has decided to offer a Salad Bar. The Salad Bar will be open for all students and staff at the school. You love all sorts of yummy things on your salad. You get a bowl that holds 568 pieces in it. You want to put as much as you can on your salad without going over the 568 pieces. However, the toppings come in sets and you have to use the whole set. The Cafeteria Manage is allowing you to try out the Salad Bar before it is open to all students. After you determine what toppings you can put on your salad, the Cafeteria Manager wants to hear from you. What are the pros and cons of the Salad Bar? Be sure to offer any suggestions. You feedback is greatly appreciated.

In “Backyard Makeover”, students will take the role of a backyard designer. They will learn how to use area and perimeter to design a new backyard. Students will decide on what items to include in their design. Students will submit a design for their “Backyard Makeover.”

Purpose: Engages students and introduces the element of a lemonade stand needed for building a lemonade stand and creating a business.

Case Overview
In “Lemonade Stand Fundraiser”, students will take the role of lemonade stand designer and business owner responding to a request to raise money for an overnight field trip. They will learn about adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals, adding and subtracting fractions, and finding the area of a rectangle with fractional lengths as they create their lemonade stand, advertise and start their fundraising business.

***NOTE
This PBL was created before NC adopted it's NC standards. NF.2 and NF.6 are no longer Grade 5 standards but incorporated into other NF standards.

Students will select and research a biome and become experts on the plants, animals, and environments there. They will not simply present what they’ve learned about their habitats but teach other first graders through learning activities that they plan.

Students help our school's PTA decorate for the upcoming Harvest Festival. The student's responsibility is to design and create a decoration that will enhance the theme of the Harvest Festival. Students learn about 2-D and 3-D shapes in the classroom. Then they use their knowledge to create a decoration of their own to share with the community.

Second grade students will explore their school site in order to understand the basic needs of the animals on our campus. Through that exploration they will learn challenges animals may face raising their young without proper resources and a safe environment. They will work collaboratively in groups to come up with a plan to improve our school site, asking school leaders and members of our community for help. After engaging with others to join in, students will use those resources (possibly funds) to help make our school site more animal friendly.

Students are presented with an opportunity to investigate one of North Carolina's great mysteries, the Lost Colony of Roanoke. They are tasked with an application process to research various theories. Throughout the study/unit, students gain an understanding of a key event in their state's history. They are able to share and teach others about this mysterious event. They develop the understanding of looking for key details and clues to make connections with various theories, relating to the work of a CSI detective/forensic scientist.

Hometown Heritage is a high school level, school-wide, cross-curricular PBL project originally designed and conducted at Tri-County Early College High School in the spring of 2018. The project's primary goal is to allow students to develop, refine, and present a product that addresses the following driving question: "How can we inspire young people to value our local heritage by telling our community’s stories in creative and meaningful ways?" Modeled after the "Foxfire" series, this project asked students to become apprentice level experts on a topic they cared about that was specific to the fabric of our local community, including working directly with an outside mentor to develop this expertise. Moreover, the students were expected to make strong connections and applications to their academic and 21st Century Skill competencies.

This problem based learning (PBL) activity allows students to become educated on how excess waste can harm the environment. This activity then has the students form a plan on how their school can limit trash output in their cafeteria, and then sending a letter to their principle describing their plan.

Combined with the three other modules bearing the same name, students will learn what is trustworthy on the internet. This module focuses on the credibility of websites based on who created it, when it was created/updated, and why it was created. After students go through a station rotation on the subject, they will create a checklist, in small groups, that will help peers understand which sources to trust on the internet.

In this problem-based learning (PBL) activity, students take on the role of a student research scientist and explore the role of solar energy in determining climate. Students conduct experiments to observe how a change in water phase affects surface temperatures. Materials required for the investigation include 2 aquariums, dry sand or soil, two heat lamps, and two thermometers.The lesson is supported by teacher notes, answer key, glossary and an appendix with information about using PBL in the classroom. This is the second of three activities in Investigating the Climate System: Energy, a Balancing Act.

In this problem-based learning unit, the Class will discuss what it means to be empathetic. Then, situations in which empathy is necessary will be role played. Students will then roll 2 dice, one die will determine their audience and the other die will determine the task they are to create a solution to. Sample audience and tasks include creating a tool to access an out of reach object for a child, vision impaired, or person in a wheelchair. Students will hand draw prototypes and then utilize a free online 3D modeling application to design their solutions for sharing.

Throughout this problem-based learning module students will address real world skills. Students will be asked to brainstorm ideas and think innovatively both independently and collaboratively in addressing a real-world problem that is relevant to their daily lives and surroundings. Students/teams will be encouraged to use the internet for research purposes in their design phase. What components should be included for a modern, updated classroom? Students will utilize various online platforms to design an ideal, modern, 21st century "dream classroom ". Students will incorporate components that would meet the needs of all learners and a classroom that would be able to integrate technology. These classrooms can be shared with relevant individuals in the community and others in the school building.

In this problem-based learning module, students will research the needs vs wants of a typical family in the US. They will also research the basic bills a typical family pays throughout a month, create a budget plan for a fictional family assigned to each group, and present budgets to authentic audience.

In this problem-based learning module, students will be given the chance to plan their idea of the perfect party. They are given a budget of $2,500, this is the maximum amount of money they can use. The goal is for students to plan a party that they think people would want to attend and would enjoy being a part of. The students will need to come up with categories of what their party will need (food/drink, decorations, entertainment, location, etc). These will then be the stations students will move at their own pace through to complete the party planning. At each station they will need to identify what they are doing to have/do for the party and how much it will cost. They will then have to figure out the unit cost (cost per person) for that category. The final station should allow for students to find the total cost of their part and total unit cost per person for the party. If the total cost exceeds $2,500 students should make adjustments as needed. Students will then create an advertisement (commercial, flyer, poster etc.) to promote their party as the "PARTY OF THE YEAR! " Students will then present these advertisements to school staff, parents, administrators etc. to vote on the party they would want to throw for their own child. They should take into consideration cost per person, entertainment, and enjoyment of the party.

In this lesson, students will come up with a sketch of their plan for their ice cube cooler, build a cooler, and investigate how this cooler solves their ice cube melting problem. Students will then identify strengths and weaknesses in their designs as well as identify improvements they could make in the future.