259: Making Project-Based Learning Accessible for Everyone

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Jennifer Gonzalez

Education, Teaching, Instruction, Classroommanagement, Educationreform

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Project-based learning can be a powerful instructional framework, but it is often structured in ways that exclude students who need a different approach. Too often, PBL becomes a space where accommodations and differentiation fall by the wayside. The good news is that we don’t have to abandon PBL or dramatically overhaul it to make it work for diverse learners. In this episode, author and educator John Spencer shares five small but thoughtful structural changes we can make that will allow every student to thrive in a project-based environment.

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Thanks to EVERFI and Listenwise for sponsoring this episode. To read John's post, visit cultofpedagogy.com/accessible-pbl.

To learn more about the PBL Master Course bundle, click HERE and use the code pedagogy at checkout to take an extra $20 off!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Jennifer Gonzalez, welcoming you to episode 259 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast.
0:06.0	In this episode, we'll talk about things you can do to make project-based learning accessible to all students.
0:28.6	I'm a big fan of project-based learning, an instructional approach that has students learn by participating in authentic real-world projects. It makes learning relevant, it gets
0:34.5	students moving and collaborating, it builds agency, and it engages students
0:39.9	in a way that wrote learning never could. PBL really is one of the best answers to the
0:45.7	time-honored student question of when are we ever going to use this stuff in the real world.
0:51.2	But despite its growing popularity, some teachers might believe that it wouldn't work in
0:55.7	their classrooms because their students are not advanced enough, or they have too many students
1:00.8	who are learning English or are neurodivergent. My guest today is determined to change that belief.
1:07.9	John Spencer has become my personal go-to when I have questions about project-based learning.
1:13.3	He's a huge advocate for PBL and has centered so much of his work on helping teachers learn
1:18.5	how to do it well and make it more accessible to more students. In addition to his six books that
1:24.5	all center on inquiry-based, student-driven deep learning. He speaks and gives
1:29.5	professional development all over the country and internationally on project-based learning,
1:34.4	among other topics. And has two fantastic online courses on PBL. Over on Culta Pedagogy,
1:41.7	John has written a detailed post that provides five strategies
1:45.1	teachers can use to make project-based learning accessible for all students.
1:50.0	And in today's episode, we'll talk about them.
1:53.5	Also, if project-based learning is a big interest for you, but you don't quite know how to get
1:58.5	started, you may be interested in a special offer
2:01.6	John has for my audience, which he talks about at the end of the episode. He has two online
2:07.0	courses on PBL, a short introductory course and a more comprehensive master course. Normally,
	...

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