Making Project-Based Learning More Impactful by Emphasizing Depth Over Speed

In education, there’s sometimes a misperception that innovation must be linked to major changes in classroom instruction. I’ve witnessed schools restructure their classes to be entirely project-based, where students are tasked with real-world applications for almost everything they do. Project-based learning is a powerful strategy, but this shift runs the risk of creating an overwhelming dynamic for students and teachers alike, with students sifting through lots of multi-layered assignments, while teachers are always designing and preparing more projects. School culture begins to feel like constant motion rather than deep learning.

In truth, innovation doesn’t necessarily mean doing more. Students don’t need a dozen projects scattered across their schedules. They need daily opportunities and time to practice inquiry before they’re assessed on it, to make mistakes and refine their approach, and to connect their learning to authentic outcomes.

Breakthroughs can come from teachers emphasizing depth over speed—selecting a small set of high-impact practices, then perfecting those practices so they become consistent routines. To make project-based learning (PBL) more sustainable and impactful, teachers should consider shifting to the following key ideas to make deep learning possible within their classrooms.

3 Big Ideas Drive the Work

Start with habits, not projects: Effective PBL doesn’t come from immediately jumping into a big, culminating project. It’s more about carefully building the habits that help students think deeply, reason with evidence, and collaborate effectively—then incorporating PBL.

Before students can manage the complexity of a full-scale project, they must rehearse the micro-moves. For instance, I once watched a ninth-grade class pause before launching into a debate. The teacher simply said, “Take 30 seconds to note the assumptions you’re making, the assumptions the author you’re about to cite is making, and the assumptions the classmates you’re about to debate are making.” That small, practiced reflection question transformed the tone of the discussion.

When teachers deliberately reinforce these habits—asking better questions, giving peer feedback, and revising thinking—they’re building the capacity that students need to thrive in unpredictable situations.

Lean into relentless consistency: Teachers often feel pressure to keep lessons fresh by constantly introducing new protocols or strategies. But true innovation comes when students regularly encounter a few high-leverage routines—things like a turn and talk, a slow reveal graph, or a four A’s protocol, all of which encourage students to consider key concepts and form sophisticated predictions with others.

If they know what to expect, students focus less on what they’re supposed to do and more on how to think. That’s when repetition becomes the cornerstone of mastery. The noise level noticeably changes; conversations go from task completion to genuinely contemplating the content. Over time, these habits build a shared language of learning across classrooms and disciplines, helping students so that they don’t need to wait for a teacher to scaffold every step.

Design for connection and transfer: Daily habits in the classroom shouldn’t exist in isolation, they should directly connect to what students need during larger, more complex projects.

For instance, if students are going to eventually analyze medical data, math teachers should introduce routines that strengthen prediction and revision skills with graphs and models. If students are going to eventually present policy recommendations, humanities teachers should focus on argumentation routines of citing, clarifying, and countering.

In one biology class I visited, students began each week with a slow reveal graph that predicted trends in public health data. By the time students launched their final project (a community health analysis), the structure felt natural. They didn’t need a long explanation to understand the project; their habits were already in place. Designing for connection creates coherence; it reduces overload for teachers and students, and ensures that each routine serves as deliberate practice toward transfer, not just another classroom activity.

How to Get Started on Rethinking PBL

Choose one routine and repeat it: Pick a single high-leverage classroom routine, like turn and talk, slow reveal graphs, or the four A’s protocol, and commit to using it regularly. Consistency matters more than variety at the start. Over time, students internalize the moves of inquiry, collaboration, and evidence-based thinking.

Same as a reduction in multi-layered projects, the goal here isn’t to have dozens of routines; it’s to make a few so commonplace that they become part of the classroom DNA. When students predict what’s coming next, their cognitive energy shifts from compliance (what am I supposed to do?) to cognition (what am I supposed to think about?).

Connect routines to authentic outcomes: Give students a reason to care. Connect the chosen routine to something they’ll eventually need for a larger project or real-world task. For example, if students will later analyze environmental data for a science project, start by using the silent protocol to build habits of prediction and revision.

If social studies students will eventually write position statements, consider starting with the four A’s protocol, focusing on agreement, argument, application, and assumption to build habits of reasoning and listening. These small, repeatable moments prepare students for deeper transfer later.

Reflect and refine together: Teachers can build a quick, recurring routine into their PLCs or grade-level teams to compare how students are responding to one classroom practice at a time, as opposed to everyone trying multiple new practices at once. Teachers should test each practice for a week, then bring back specific evidence, student work, etc, to determine what works and what needs adjustment.

In one PLC I observed, a teacher shared that their students were getting better at turn and talk, but their responses were still surface-level. Another teacher offered, “Try adding a prompt that forces them to relate ideas using conjunctions or subordinating conjunctions.” That five-minute exchange sharpened practice for every teacher in the room and prepared them for the next quick cycle.