How Project-based Learning Looks in Lower School

Walk into our Lower School classrooms at Seven Hills, and you will most likely find students actively imagining, designing, creating, and devising solutions to student-identified (and sometimes teacher-proposed) challenges. 

Whether they are engaged in developing a business, thinking about how to reduce the number of items in our Lost and Found, or exploring mathematical and scientific concepts through building their own mini-golf course, students are involved in activities that are more than just fun -— they are powerful learning experiences that develop the problem-solvers and creative thinkers our world needs.

Project-based learning (PBL) and design thinking (DT) are both student-centered, inquiry-based approaches to teaching. In both approaches, the teacher serves as a facilitator while the students lead the work to gain knowledge and skills by actively engaging with real-world and personally meaningful projects over time. 

They ask questions, investigate solutions, and create tangible products that matter to them and their community. In the process, they become independent thinkers who know how to tackle challenges they’ve never encountered before.

In the fall, some of our pre-kindergarten students found out that our 2-year-old students were nervous during a thunderstorm. Following conversations led to the idea that they should take responsibility for teaching our PK2 class all about weather, so those students would no longer be afraid. 

What began as learning about weather evolved into an all-consuming project. Students didn’t just learn about different types of weather — thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards — they became weather reporters, crafting their own forecast scripts and, with the help of a parent volunteer, creating a complete weather movie. 

The premiere included an invitation to parents and was a genuine Hollywood experience, complete with ticket takers, red carpet photos and interviews, popcorn, and ushers guiding movie-goers to their seats. These 4-year-olds weren’t just learning about clouds and rain; they were learning how to communicate ideas, work as a team, and present their knowledge to their pre-k friends to help them be courageous in all types of weather.

This winter, that same pre-k class found themselves in a cycle of wanting to play with others during recess but not knowing how to connect easily. Talking about this dilemma during morning meetings led to reading books where characters were looking for a friend to play with and brainstorming potential solutions that students could use to find a friend during their time outdoors. 

Thus, the “buddy bench” project was born. 

Students had the opportunity to practice working with wood — sanding, hammering, drilling, staining, and using wood glue — before they began the actual process of building their bench. With the help of another parent volunteer who enjoys woodworking, the students got to work building their bench. 

Students documented the entire process and purpose of the bench in a book they authored together. This classroom book was shared with all classes in the Early School building, and the bench was placed on the playground in a central, easy-to-see location. And it works! 

While students have had to remind their peers that it is not a place to simply rest during recess, others have been looking for a friend to play with and have taken a seat and waited. Students have paid attention and immediately come over to invite their peers to play with them. 

Ultimately, these students transformed a simple playground addition into a lesson about empathy, craftsmanship, and community building.

Fifth graders launched their year with a design thinking challenge: How might we reduce the number of clothing items left outside during recess? Working in collaborative groups, they researched the problem, brainstormed solutions, and presented proposals to the school administration. 

Their ideas were thoughtful and practical: dedicated shelving organized by grade level to place their personal items at the start of recess, a designated gathering point separate from the line back into the building where students would check for belongings before heading inside, and an original, catchy song reminding everyone to grab their coats, jackets, and sweatshirts before heading back to class. 

After receiving feedback, students revised their designs to better meet the needs of both students and teachers. While the solutions haven’t yet made it to the playground, the hope is that they will, and that students know they laid the groundwork for real change. 

This wasn’t just a hypothetical exercise; it was authentic problem-solving that gave students voice and agency in improving their school, and a reminder that good ideas sometimes just need a little time to take root. 

These projects do so much more than make sure that students are learning the grade-level content expected. These projects transform how students see themselves as learners. They recognize that they have agency as they identify real problems or challenges, determine potential solutions, direct their own learning, and make a difference in our community. 

Their ideas matter, their voices count, and their actions make our school a better place.