Project-Based
Capstone Projects: When The Schedule Changes For Learning
Project-based learning is central to EBIA’s identity, but our Capstone Projects take that commitment further. At key points during the year, EBIA changes the regular master schedule so students have extended time to fully immerse themselves in interdisciplinary, real-world problem-solving.
Capstones bring multiple disciplines together around one larger challenge. Students draw on English, mathematics, science, history, art, and design as appropriate to the project. They work in teams, divide responsibilities, research, calculate, build, write, revise, respond to feedback, and present a final product or solution.
A Seventh-grade Shark Tank Capstone
One seventh-grade Capstone challenged student teams to develop an original product or business concept and prepare a Shark Tank-style pitch.
In science, students researched the problem their idea was designed to address and developed evidence for why their solution could work. In mathematics, they worked through budgets, pricing, costs, and financial projections. In English, students developed persuasive arguments, wrote and revised their pitch, considered audience, and practiced clear, confident communication.
The work came together in one final team proposal. Students had to explain not only what they were proposing, but why it mattered, how it would work, what it would cost, and why an audience should believe in it.
That is the kind of work innovators do: combine disciplines, solve problems with other people, make a case for an idea, respond to questions, and improve the work as new information emerges.
Project-based Learning Throughout The Year
Capstones are our most immersive interdisciplinary projects, but Learning by Doing is visible throughout the regular academic program as well.
Project-based learning also appears throughout individual courses. Students investigate, design, research, create, and present within science, humanities, mathematics, and the arts. Explore STEM and Academics for additional examples.
Explore STEM Explore Academics
The Washington Post has profiled EBIA project-based learning in action, highlighting how students test ideas, encounter setbacks, apply academic concepts, redesign, and improve their work.
The Project Process
Strong projects ask students to move through a process:
Ask: Begin with a question, problem, phenomenon, or challenge worth investigating.
Build Knowledge: Read, research, calculate, observe, discuss, gather evidence, and learn the academic content needed to move forward.
Design + Create: Turn ideas into something tangible: a model, experiment, argument, design, artwork, presentation, performance, business proposal, or other product.
Collaborate: Divide responsibilities, communicate, make decisions together, and work through disagreement.
Get Feedback: Use teachers, peers, data, testing, and authentic audiences to identify what can become stronger.
Revise: Improve both the final product and the thinking behind it.
Share + Defend: Present what was created, explain the decisions behind it, and respond to questions.
How Projects Are Assessed
Project-based learning is academic learning. Teachers assess the standards and course skills embedded in the project as well as students’ use of evidence, reasoning, communication, collaboration, craftsmanship, revision, and final products.
Why It Matters
The world our students are entering will require more than remembering information. Students will need to learn new things, work across disciplines, and collaborate with people who think differently. They will also need to make decisions with incomplete information, communicate ideas clearly, and improve their work when the first attempt is not enough.
Capstones give EBIA students repeated practice doing exactly that.
Learning by Doing. Innovators for an Evolving World.