Agency at the Center: Where Middle School Learning Comes to Life

Friends Seminary’s Middle School educators are stepping boldly into a two-year professional learning journey focused on interdisciplinary teaching through a Project Based Learning (PBL) lens. Building on the division’s work in differentiated instruction, this initiative supports teachers as they continue to design learning experiences that are rigorous, collaborative, and deeply connected to the world beyond the classroom.

PBL empowers students to make choices, pursue their intellectual passions, and connect classroom learning to authentic contexts. It pushes educators beyond “covering content” toward helping students uncover ideas through student-driven inquiry. According to PBLWorks, project-based learning is “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge, and make their work public.”

“Our Middle School educators are diving into their PBL and interdisciplinary learning cohorts, engaging in rich conversation as they identify points of intersection across the curriculum and even participating in projects as students themselves,” said Michelle Cristella, Head of Middle School. “Their readiness to design with intention, collaborate across disciplines, learn from one another and take risks, while also keeping their work student centered sets a powerful tone for the path ahead. I am excited to continue this collaboration.”

To support this initiative, faculty are drawing on division-wide summer reads—Project Based Learning: Real Questions. Real Answers by Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy, and The Project Based Learning Handbook for Middle and High School. These texts provide helpful grounding and scaffolds, while the momentum comes from teachers themselves—their vision, creativity, and commitment to student-centered learning.

On October 14, Middle School educators participated in a PBLWorks professional development day. In the months ahead, faculty will take part in interdisciplinary planning and refinement. The journey will culminate in a June showcase, where educators will present the projects they have developed and provide space for colleagues to ask questions and offer feedback before pilots launch in 2026–27.

Dean of Studies Hassan Wilson stated, “The work our Middle School teachers are doing is exciting because it mirrors the real world. When our students graduate from school, they will need to be able to think beyond artificial silos and across many disciplines; they will also need to be able to apply their learning, manage and execute projects, share their thinking, and collaborate across differences, just to name a few.”

Educators are embracing Project Based Learning not as a shift in style but as an evolution in purpose. By giving students agency, connecting learning to authentic contexts, and embedding rigor in every step, they are modeling the same intellectual drive and collaborative spirit they continue to cultivate in their students.