How to Write PBL Driving Questions

​Last week's blog post was all about how to coordinate and implement self-directed project-based learning activity. Whether the experience is teacher-led or student-directed, writing a driving question is often the first step in PBL design and one of the biggest struggles. So how do you write one? How do your students write one? What are some PBL driving question examples? Find the answers to all of these questions right here.

Not all project-based educators find a driving question necessary. For a long time my students designed and executed self-directed project based learning activities without a driving question. Instead, they brainstormed a topic of interest or chose a subtopic under a theme assigned to them, and wrote a list of questions or categories to guide the research process.

That was fine, but I discovered after many years of doing it this way that my students were going through the motions of a research project without seeing the bigger picture or the purpose of the experience. 

Project-based learning is about so much more than gathering statistics and gluing that info to a poster board. It is deep, sustained inquiry, with authentic, integrated, real-world experiences intermixed. My students were not seeing the latter. They were only seeing the short-term goal; a project based learning rubric score.

Because of this, I eventually started adding a PBL driving question as a requirement. The purpose of a driving question is to make the how, what, AND the why as clear as day. My students felt more confident going forward with their projects because their goals and a purpose were written into their driving questions.

It took some time for my students to learn how to write driving questions. I still struggle myself at times. So I developed a process with clear directions that helped my students and I hope will help you as well. I have created a template as a guide for you and your students to write driving questions, and have added it to my free experiential learning resource library. Grab that here.

If you have purchased any of my project based learning resources you have seen that a PBL driving question is written into the project plan. This post is intended to help you and your students write that question. I have listed out the components that I include in a PBL driving question. They do not have to be written in this order. Mix it up, just make sure to include them.

I also highly recommend grabbing my self-directed project based learning activity design workbook. My students design their PBL projects using this workbook as a guide, but you could use it as well if you're focusing on teacher-led PBL. This workbook includes the tool for developing PBL driving questions. You can also find this workbook included in my project based learning starter kit.

How to Write a PBL Driving Question in 5 Easy Steps

1. Question:

A project-based learning driving question is a question after all, so it makes sense to have a question written into it. The question should be open-ended. If you ask a question that has one right or wrong answer, the PBL experience is over. Encourage students to think in the upper levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

The question could start with "How", "Should", "What", "Could" and so on. 

PBL Driving Question Example: How can our senior class create a free, interactive, digital career station for students and other job seekers in the community to make career inquiries seamless and accessible to all?

2. Action-Taker(s)

The action-taker is the person or group that will participate in the experience. This is written into the driving question so that students are clear on who will be involved, including peers, partners, and collaborators

The action-taker might be "I", "our economics class", "our neighborhood community", etc. 

PBL Driving Question Example: How can our senior class create a free, interactive, digital career station for students and other job seekers in the community to make career inquiries seamless and accessible to all?

3. Action

The action is what the action-takers will do or create. This is the "what" of the experience. What will they make? What service will they provide? This is essentially the final product or information that they will produce that will serve or impact the community.

PBL Driving Question Example: How can our senior class create a free, interactive, digital career station for students and other job seekers in the community to make career inquiries seamless and accessible to all?

4. Recipient

The recipient is an important piece of project-based learning. PBL is authentic, meaning the experience and outcomes should be relevant and impactful to those beyond the walls of the classroom.

An authentic presentation is an important component of project-based learning that distinguishes it from other teaching methods. Students do not share their final products exclusively with their teacher and class. They share it with the public, and not just the public in general, but a public audience that is relevant to the topic or final product. Who will receive the information or product is written into the driving question.

PBL Driving Question Example: How can our senior class create a free, interactive, digital career station for students and other job seekers in the community to make career inquiries seamless and accessible to all?

5. Impact

The impact is the "why", the purpose, the ultimate goal of a project-based learning activity. Students often ask me why we do something. Why are we learning this? The impact is their answer. This gives students a sense of purpose and desire to participate in the experience. I felt that the impact was a little lost without a driving question. 

The impact is what the action-takers wish to have on the recipient(s) of the final product or information shared .

PBL Driving Question Example: How can our senior class create a free, interactive, digital career station for students and other job seekers in the community to make career inquiries seamless and accessible to all?

Again, mix and match these driving question components as you please. The idea is simply to provide students with clarity and purpose.

It will be a work in progress, and that is okay! PBL driving questions don't have to be perfect. 

​Before moving on, check out some of these project based learning blog posts. It is important to have a good handle on and/or a solid foundation before getting into driving questions:

1. What is Self Directed Project Based Learning?
2. Elements of Project Based Learning
3. Steps in Project Based Learning and How to Facilitate the Experience

Follow Experiential Learning Depot on Facebook, Pinterest & Instagram. Check out Experiential Learning Depot on TPT for more PBL resources. Follow ELD on TPT for new resource alerts, freebies, and more! ​