Giving Compass' Take:

• Aashna Ray's choir song production is a perfect example of the successful marriage between project-based learning and the performing arts.

• How can educators expand PBL to be integrated into more art classes and how might this help boost programming?

• Learn why project-based learning is a promising approach to achieve positive student outcomes. 


The best projects—those that truly engage students in high-quality experiences that are authentic and require a public product—often incorporate the visual or performing arts.

We acknowledge that not all students may initially believe they are artistically inclined, but once they engage in some form of artistic expression—be it performance, visual representation or interpretation—they often surprise themselves and others by tapping into another level of depth and understanding in their projects.

One of the coolest examples of PBL and the arts that we’ve seen recently took place at a high school choir concert, and was the manifestation of a student’s desire to go deeper, express herself further, and engage her classmates more.

Aashna Ray, now a junior at East Ridge High School (MN) created a vision, composed a song, taught it to her classmates, and then conducted the choir during a school concert.  To continue to draw connections to PBL, Aashna not only created an amazing product, she learned throughout the entire project process. Reflecting on her learnings, Aashna said, “From the day I started to write the song to the day of the performance, I learned so much!” She continued, “I learned the importance of patience, the importance of hard work and the importance of faith. I had to have faith in myself (that I knew what I was doing), in my classmates, and in my guru, Mahant Swami Maharaj, who inspired me to write this song in the first place.”

The public nature of these performances engages students, provides them with real-world feedback, and brings incredible authenticity that inspires communities.

Read the full article about project-based learning and the arts by Mary Ryerse and Emily Liebtag at Getting Smart