What is a Project?
A project is a collaborative online space where ThinkQuest Projects members use simple tools to co-author content on a specific topic. Members can collaborate on projects within their classroom or with other schools globally.
- A project can contain up to 25 pages, with up to 10 content items per page. Project content can be set so that it is only visible to members of the project or visible to the entire ThinkQuest Projects community.
- Projects are organized into educational categories, such as Arts & Entertainment, Books & Literature, and Science & Technology.
- Each project must be created by a teacher, who acts as the primary facilitator (Coach).
- A project may also have any number of additional teacher members to guide the learning experience. Teacher members may assign any student from their school to a project team.
- The Coach may also open project membership, allowing anyone from the ThinkQuest Projects community to request to join. For safety reasons, students from other schools can only join a project if a teacher from their school joins too.
- Project members can keep one another updated by using the project calendar or by sending project team messages.
Why Integrate Projects into the Classroom?
Teachers can use projects to engage students in developing vital 21st century skills, helping to prepare them for success in life and work outside of school.
The following are a few examples of ways that you can use projects to develop students' 21st century skills (
read definitions of these skills):
- Critical thinking: Create a project that invites students to investigate and propose solutions for a real world issue.
- Creativity: Create a project that requires students to create a report or presentation as a final product. You can also integrate multimedia components, such as student artwork, photography, or videos.
- Teamwork: Have students work in teams to contribute to a project and post their teamwork reflections in a message board.
- Cross-cultural understanding: Collaborate on a project with teachers and students from different cultures, encouraging students to think globally.
- Communication: Use interactive discussion tools to encourage students to share and debate ideas or conduct peer reviews on one another's project contributions.
- Technology: Plan assignments that require students to use each of the content creation, upload, and interaction tools available in ThinkQuest Projects.
- Self-direction: Give students opportunities to proactively contribute content or ideas to a project.
To view tips for creating successful projects and examples of great projects, visit the
Best Practices & Examples section.
