Discover our work with Egebæk-Hviding Skole Vadehav
Imagine if PBL could enhance students' motivation and participation in school
What we did
Strategic sparring
PBL workshops
School transformation
Time period
2023-2025
The staff at Egebæk-Hviding Skole Vadehav had one clear wish: to make the school more engaging and inclusive for the children. Additionally, they aimed to delve into interdisciplinary learning and the project-based approach.
That's why they contacted us, and we decided to conduct an experiment together. An experiment to test whether PBL could be the path to their goal.
At Imagine If, we were both thrilled and excited - this was a new approach to PBL transformations that we hadn't tried before.
The experiment
The test period spanned of 3 weeks, during which we focused on learning about PBL rather than achieving a specific goal. From the beginning, the school acknowledged the complex situation they faced couldn't be solved by one person or an expert. They had to find the answer through trial and error. Therefore, together, we conducted an experiment with a common theme, a joint presentation, and 5 hopes for what PBL could achieve, which were to be tested in the experiment.
Both parents, siblings, grandparents, the local community, staff, management, and children were invited to participate in the process and they were encouraged to make mistakes, so they could let go of what didn't work.
At the end of the experiment, the school had a shared experience that PBL was engaging for both children and staff, it was a sustainable way of working, it worked well for children with special needs, and it allowed them to continue with what they were doing well. Therefore, they chose to set up another experiment the following school year.
Process overview
About the school
Egebæk-Hviding School Vadehav is located in Egebæk-Hviding south of Ribe, and the school has approximately 209 students divided into 13 classes.
Motivation
The teachers at the school wanted to embrace interdisciplinary and project-based approaches in their teaching. Additionally, the school aimed to increase students' motivation and involvement in their education. This made them reach out to us.
Desired outcome
We started out by defining five success criteria for our work together, which we used to evaluate throughout the process. These were:
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Create an engaging learning experience for the entire staff and student body
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Introduce a sustainable PBL model that inspires further PBL work
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Highlight the strengths of PBL for students with special needs
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Integrate practices that the school is already doing well into their PBL work
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To provide timely and useful information to families about their student's work in PBL.
What we did
We began our work by collaborating with both the leadership, staff, and students to redefine the school's vision and embed it across the organisation.
Following this, we conducted workshops on various topics, including introduction to PBL, planning strategies and deep dives into specific elements like the engaging question. Throughout these workshops we provided the staff with a didactic planning tool, enabling them to design numerous projects and supporting their students throughout the projects.
Results
After our collaboration, the school has noted several positive transformations. These include significant parental support, a culture of embracing risk among staff, full inclusion of all children, adoption of sustainable work practices, strengthened community bonds, and a shared sense of accomplishment in reaching goals together.
“We were a proud and happy school, when we had our first showcase.”
Ditte G Nielsen or Helle Kiesbye, Head of Pedadogy, Egebæk-Hviding Skole Vadehav