Planning Successful Capstone Projects in Middle School

The end of the academic year is among the most challenging parts of the teaching calendar. One way I work to ensure a successful end to the year is the capstone project—an all-in, multidisciplinary project-based learning (PBL) experience that leverages what students have learned throughout the year in pursuit of an authentic, challenging goal.

By offering hands-on learning and genuine, public-facing experiences, capstone projects help keep students focused and engaged right up until the final showcase day. And by drawing on key skills and ideas gained throughout the year, capstone projects offer students a fresh chance to show what they are capable of as the year draws to a close. In this article, I’ll share some tips gleaned from two successful capstone projects at our school: the Utah History Exhibit Design Challenge and Mission to Mars.

Start Planning Early

The first iteration of our museum design project began as a series of conversations with a parent who was involved with the new Utah State History Museum. Our subsequent Mission to Mars project grew out of a shared appreciation of Andy Weir’s novels and a desire for more balance between STEM and humanities in student capstone experiences.

What the projects had in common, though, was that planning started early, at the very beginning of the academic year. There is a lot to think about: high-level goals, discipline-specific goals, curricular connections, project benchmarks, possible community partners, showcase logistics, and no doubt a host of other considerations specific to your school that cannot be accounted for here.

My point is, this is not an initiative that comes together in a few weeks. Ideally, it’s the result of a nine- or 12-month planning cycle. It’s really never too early to start.

What are your goals? How will students get there?

Developing a capstone project is a matter of backward planning, but on a somewhat bigger scale than usual. What should students be able to accomplish at the end of sixth or eighth or 10th grade? What kinds of authentic problems might enable teams of students to demonstrate their skills?

For our Utah History Exhibit Design Challenge project, students researched a topic in Utah history and created an engaging museum exhibit. For our Mission to Mars project, students developed a plan for a sustainable, long-term human society on Mars. Each project tested a host of skills that students develop throughout eighth grade: discipline-specific skills like reading, writing, research, and speaking, as well as cross-disciplinary skills like creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and planning.

If you’re struggling with ideas, think about through lines in your curriculum, in terms of both skills and content, and where they might intersect with genuine community interests or needs. You may also think about what kinds of community partners are available and how you might work productively with them.

Project Launch and Management

For a capstone project, the launch works the way it does with any other PBL experience. For our museum design project, we sent our students on their annual Washington, DC, trip with a project-related prompt: What aspects of the Smithsonian museums most grabbed you as you explored? What was least compelling? For our Mars project, we watched The Martian and spent some time working on problems presented in the film.

From there, students got their project prompts, formed their groups, and started working on project benchmarks. For a two-week project, we typically set up daily assignments in Canvas so that students know how to organize their work. If you’re including research, carefully curated sources are a great way to focus student effort (with the help of your school librarian).

It may also help to organize benchmarks by discipline, so that kids have clear learning targets across the curriculum, and teachers are able to provide focused, timely feedback as the project moves forward.

The Showcase and Assessment

Almost all capstone projects will end with some kind of showcase—an opportunity for students to present their work not just to teachers but to community members, including other students, faculty, parents, and community partners. Students should go into the showcase with a clear sense of what they need to demonstrate to be successful, and should have an opportunity to practice presentations ahead of time and get feedback.

You may consider gamifying the event to build student engagement. Our Utah History Exhibit Design Challenge project featured curators from the Utah State Historical Society looking for ideas to incorporate into their museum. For Mission to Mars, visitors voted on the most impressive examples of key project benchmarks, which gave all students a more personal stake in the work.

It can be tempting to edit showcase elements or cancel it entirely if things don’t turn out as well as you had hoped. Avoid this temptation. The live element of the showcase is important for students, and adult feedback is valuable whether or not student work is genuinely impressive.

Wrapping Up

It’s important to not let the showcase be the final word on the capstone project. We always set aside time during the final week of school for students to reflect on their work and have a say in any project grades. We also like to use one morning during the last week of school to order doughnuts and pass out awards to students whose projects received the most votes in individual categories at the showcase.

Don’t lose sight of the importance of teacher reflection, either. Every project, no matter how well planned, will have hiccups or oversights that can be addressed in subsequent iterations, or moments that spark new ideas for coming years. Wrapping up with a quick teacher meeting ensures that teacher learning is captured alongside student feedback, and that you’re ready to start planning again when you come back to school in the fall.