In a project-based learning approach, students work over an extended time period for a purpose beyond satisfying a school requirement--to build something, to create something, to respond to a question they have, to solve a real problem, or to address a real need. For example, students might work to plan, plant, and cultivate a garden to help feed the hungry in their community; develop a guidebook for visitors at a nature preserve; study the problem of wasting food and then develop a plan to reduce waste in the school cafeteria; or research and write a history of their local community. Along the way, teachers build knowledge and teach skills, but in students' minds, the knowledge and skills serve to meet the project's goal (while in the teacher's mind, they may also address specific state standards and meet district curriculum requirements). In this article the author begins by explaining why project-based and similar approaches that have been around since the early 1900s are especially well suited for education today. She goes on to demonstrate why project-based learning works, how to include it in the school day, how to design project-based units, and how to structure project-based units to develop information reading and writing.