I will find citations and put them in my original post. As for schools which operate this way now, the New Tech Network (http://www.newtechnetwork.org/) of schools operate this way. I can speak most specifically for Manor New Tech HS in Manor, Texas, as it is the most accessible to me.

I also know that LASA in Austin ISD has a number of classes taught this way though they do not have any sort of project-based "ideology" that they follow across the board like New Tech schools.

you should put contact info in your HN profile page! I would love to follow up with you privately on this.

Paul, could you explain here or through a private e-mail what your company Matygo is doing and how it is a catalyst? The tagline on the blog is a tease :).

I rewrote the tagline earlier today, I'll take that as positive feedback. :)

A catalyst speeds up a reaction, sometimes essentially so. The coming education revolution is going to be much larger than any single organization but we think we can help bring it about a little bit quicker. Sal Khan is definitely a catalyst in this respect.

We do this through two complimentary features sets:

1) Learning about learning. These are tools to track student progress, judge the effectiveness of different techniques, etc... Think an education effectiveness dashboard. By providing high-quality information we can shorten and improve the feedback loop by better understanding what works and what doesn't.

2) Online learning delivery. As a starting point, think an LMS like Instructure/Moodle/Blackboard, etc... but designed to work with the previous point - try new things and measure. The key here is enabling teacher creativity. It's all well and fine for us to implement and measure new tools in house but that's not fast enough (and gives us no particular advantage). The Instructors on our system need to be able to easily implement their own thoughts on how to improve teaching (and then see the results). They are much smarter than we will ever be about this. We need our instructors to see this 'LMS' as their playground for teaching experimentation. And, of course, when one of them makes a breakthrough they will share it and everyone will be better off.

Innovation is experimentation that results in an improvement. We help teachers experiment and judge the success of their experiments, shortening the feedback loop and increasing the rate of innovation. This is what we mean by "be a catalyst".

Very interesting. Anything having to do with disrupting the current model excites me to no end.

Have a few more questions if you don't mind:

1. What's your motivation for doing this?

2. Is there a particular level of education (or type of subject) you're targeting? Would you find the product more geared towards being effective in some subjects than others, or generic enough for any?

3. Is UBC somehow part of this project?

4. Could I play with it (I'm in no way affiliated with UBC)?

I went to a school that operates that way:

http://www.parker.org/

And what are your thoughts on the method?

Generally very positive, though perhaps not for the reasons you'd imagine.

Basically everything you learn in grade school will be useless in real life. This is not because you don't learn anything: it's because you have not experienced enough by high school to have a reasonable chance of knowing what you want to specialize in, and you have to specialize for your adult life. So the fruits of that deliberate practice will be useless whether you learn stuff or not.

Instead, I found that the project-based curriculum was useful because:

1.) It shows you that there is more depth to things than simply doing what you're told and regurgitating what you've learned.

2.) It trains you to take initiative and be responsible for your own education, and later your career. There's a huge difference between learning stuff and doing stuff, and projects help bridge the gap.

Both of these skills are invaluable later on, when you do know what you want to do.