ABSTRACT
This chapter examines three projects done by the author in her eighth-grade classroom that utilize elements of project-based learning each with different modes and objectives. Each of these projects can be adapted for any grade-level content, and each requires students to reach, learn new skills, and activate some of the "middle school-ness" of themselves in other words, to put part of themselves in the project so that they can more readily make connections with the content and with the larger world. In her years in the classroom, she have done both summative projects and project-based learning. While both of these project styles can allow students to integrate disciplines and express their understanding through alternate means, there are definite differences between the two approaches. Larmer, Mergendoller, and Boss explain that project-based learning is a process in which students use inquiry methods to investigate a complex issue or problem and gain skills and content as part of that process.
