Project Based Learning – always the best approach?

As many of you know, I often sing the praises of the Project Based Learning approach.  However, a recent article in  American Educator called “Putting Students on the Path to Learning: The Case for Fully Guided Instruction” looks at whether or not it is always the best approach.

According the research conducted by the authors,

“Controlled experiments almost uniformly indicate that when dealing with novel information… students should be explicitly shown what to do and how to do it, and then have an opportunity to practice doing it while receiving corrective feedback.”

In many ways, the “coaching” model continues to be highlighted as one of the most effective instructional approaches.  I am seeing more and more examples of “coaching” and the “shoulder to shoulder” approach for adult professional development.  Based on the research in this article, it makes sense.