Entry or Immersion Events in PBL
An overview which can give you ideas and prompts for creating an entry event for the project or expedition.
What are Entry Events and why are they useful?
The Entry Event kick-starts the project and puts students’ learning into context. Entry, or immersion events seek to engage, inspire, and situate a project for students as a real world, authentic learning experience, and marks the start of the project for students. A key aim and purpose of the entry event is to ensure all students have an equitable experience at the start of the project, so they have equal access to the project through a common launch. The entry event leads students into the project and acts as a pre-curser to students being ‘given’ or exposed to the Driving or Guiding Question (Magnify Learning,2023b).
In this toolkit section, Entry Events are introduced. Self-guided resources are:
- Video: How do I plan an Entry Event? Magnify Learning (2023b) gives tips on planning an entry event.
- Slides and Overview: Entry Events
- Explore further: Additional resource links and videos to explore to help you start planning your Entry Event.
Examples of possible entry events include:
- Field trip
- Guest Speaker
- Film / video / website
- Simulation or activity
- Startling statistics
- Puzzling problem
- Piece of real or mock correspondence
- Song, poem, art
- Discussion
- Provocative reading
Quick links for Entry or Immersion Events
In this 3-minute video, Magnify Learning (2023b) gives tips for planning an entry event.
What makes a good entry event and why?
There are several key and common features to the project launch.
An effective entry event (adapted from Magnify Learning,2023):
- Hooks the students. The event should be relevant, engaging and students should walk away excited to start the project.
- Give the students their role. The entry event provides an opportunity to share with students what roles they will be taking
- Lays out a problem or challenge to be completed or solved. The entry event allows the introduction of the problem, what they will need to do to solve it, and what they are going to be asked to do.
- Signposts and scaffolds for students to research and ask questions about. Guide student questions intentionally so that they begin to understand what they are being asked to do, what skills they will use, and what they will learn.
- Identifies community connections. The entry event shows the links to real world applications, and the end-product audience.
- Aligns with the project rubric.
Additional Resources to Support Entry Events
Advice on getting projects off to a good start with an entry event:
Bibliography and sources of best practice
Edutopia. (2018). Generating a buzz about learning. Available from: https://www.edutopia.org/article/generating-buzz-about-learning
Edutopia. (2011). How to Get Projects Off to a Good Start. Available from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/summer-pd-starting-projects-suzie-boss
EL Education. (2023). Helping all learners-entry points. Available from: https://eleducation.org/resources/helping-all-learners-entry-points
High Tech High (2023) Projects. Available from: https://www.hightechhigh.org/student-work/projects/
Magnify Learning. (2023a). Entry events. Available from: https://www.magnifylearningin.org/entry-events
Magnify Learning.(2023b). How Do I Plan an Entry Event? Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN9IEqbU3qU
Magnify Learning. (2019). For students it all starts with the entry event. Available from: https://www.magnifylearningin.org/project-based-learning-blog/2019/6/3/for-students-it-all-starts-with-the-entry-event
PBL Works. (2023). Managing Projects-Entry Events. Available from: https://my.pblworks.org/resource/blog/managing_projects
XP School. (2023). Our Expeditions. Available from: https://sites.google.com/xpschool.org/curriculum/our-expeditions
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