PBL Example: Students in Hawaii Compare Schools Around the World

This October, students around the world will be comparing their school communities while showing off their school pride in our Global School Pride Contest! Today’s PenPal Stars have shown their school pride in this project based learning example from Schools Around the World!

View Schools Around the World Syllabus

Elaine, Payton, Tainoa, and Caysean from Hawaii, USA participated in Schools Around the World. They worked together as a team to create a project that shows off their favorite parts of their school. They also designed their dream school! Check out the work they published in the Showcase!

ELAINE: Hello! We are Elaine, Payton Caysean, and Tainoa! Our school is located in Oahu, Hawaii. It is American Renaissance Academy! Our school is a tiny private school. It only has about 100 students. Our school has three dance studios, an Olympic sized swimming pool, and no cafeteria. Instead of a cafeteria, we have a multi-purpose room, which is where we eat, finish our work, and put our bags down in the morning. We have two language classes. We have  French and Japanese. Every year we hold a musical, we have done Lion King Jr., and Beauty and the Beast, and Willy Wonka, and so many more! We have many after-school activities like swim, acting, dance and fitness classes. Our swim team competes in many swim meets, and our dance team; FAME Elite does many competitions. Here is our school: website arahawaii.org

My perfect school would be located in a hidden little town. It would have the number of students we have in our school now. Which is about 100 students. I don't like the uniforms at our school, so I would take out uniforms and just put a slight dress code. I really would like an art class, also! I would like the school to be air-conditioned. I really like it when the lights go out so it goes dark! So maybe, not super bright lights! I also like that there is one class in my school that is super cozy and home-like and I wish all the classes were like that. The last thing is I wish that the school days were shorter, and the internet was better. I would like the school days from 8:30-3:30. That would be my perfect school.

PAYTON: Hello! We are Caysean, Tainoa, Payton, and Elaine! We go to ARA {American Renaissance Academy} ARA is in Kapolei, Hawaii. We have an Olympic sized swimming pool, and two dance studios. We also have a studio for P.E. We are a smaller school because we are a private school! I hope you enjoy talking with us or other people!                 
If I were to have the perfect school it would have, a pool for swim lessons and also for a swim team! I would also love to have different language classes, for example maybe a German class, a French class, and a Russian class.  For after school programs my perfect school would have, Hula, Tahitian, track, private violin lessons, and voice lessons. The classes for my perfect school would be, math, science, marine biology, U.S. History, language arts, and learning lab.  I would like for my perfect school to be a small school with about 100 kids, and cute, comfy uniform. My school would be in a small hidden {but not to hidden} scene with bright green beautiful grass. I would like for all of my classrooms to be nice and cozy. I would like the school days to be little shorter form 9:30 to 4:30. The walls would have inspiring stickers on all the walls and maybe pictures of the students and the school throughout the years. The seats would be comfy, and the tables would be big. We would also have a cafeteria and 6 microwaves!  That would be my perfect school!

CAYSEAN: Hello, my name is Caysean, and my group is: Payton, Tainoa, and Elaine. Our school is ARA [American Renaissance Academy] Our school has Swim Lessons, Swim Team, Acting, Fit & Strong, Fit & Fast, Hula, and Ballet programs. American Renaissance Academy is based on education and interaction there are more but those are our main expectations that teachers and administrators want kids to know. Here is our website arahawaii.org. Our school is a small private school with 100 people. We have formal uniforms and every monday we wear blazors. Bye Bye.

TAINOA: Hello teachers and students around the world!My name is Tainoa.I come from ARA(american renaissance academy)It is located in kapole,Hawaii. My school only has 90 something  students,everyone is very friendly.Our school is a performing arts type of school we have 3 dance studios,a lot of classes,and a Olympic size pool.Our swim team is very good, they have won a lot of medals.We have a lot talented students on our campus. My daily routine I get up,brush my teeth,eat cereal,walk over to my grandmothers house so she can drop me off at school,then here i am at school.That's my school life bye have a  great day bye!

When they’re not learning with PenPals, these PenPal Stars stay busy! Elaine is in swim club and hopes to join acting soon,  Payton is in an after school hula program, Tainoa plays baseball and football, and Caysean hangs out with his friends. We caught up with Elaine, Payton, Tainoa, and Caysean to learn more about them and their experience in Schools Around the World.

PENPAL SCHOOLS: What has been your favorite thing about learning with PenPals?
ELAINE: Learning about other schools and other students around the world! That schools around the world are not all the same, and that they are all actually quite different.
PAYTON: Learning how other kids learn at school.
TAINOA: Their daily routine and what there school does for them. [I learned] what people around the world do everyday and what kids do at school.          
CAYSEAN: I guess it’s fun to hear about how other kids contribute to there school! I learned that some schools are small. I learned that some schools don't have dress codes.

Tell us about the final project you decided to publish in the showcase! What did you choose to create, and why? How did you come up with that idea?
TAINOA: I decided to talk about my school.
CAYSEAN: The final project I'm doing is project 2 because I love to represent my school and talk about it! I came up with this idea because I just really love my school. It’s all about performing arts and what not.

Why do you think it's important to learn with other students from around the world?
PAYTON: I think it is important to learn with other students around the world, because then we have the opportunity to learn about other kids daily basis when they are at school.
TAINOA: You can learn their language.

What advice do you have about being a great PenPal?
ELAINE: Make sure you are never rude, and try to answer back questions and things your PenPal asks as soon as you can like a good PenPal would do.
TAINOA: Communicate and have fun.
CAYSEAN: Just be nice and polite when you talk to readers and make sure you hook readers with a cool beginning!

What is your favorite subject in school and why?
ELAINE: I love English and Math class. I love English because I can learn new things that I've never learned. Math, because I love numbers, and it's quite easy.  
PAYTON: My favorite subject in school is English and Math. The reason why I love Math is because it is fun to learn new ways on how to calculate so many new things. The reason I love English is because, I love reading and writing. But also because I have a wonderful, happy, and positive teacher!
TAINOA: History because our teacher is funny,awesome,and smart.
CAYSEAN: My favorite subject is History because we start off the class telling funny jokes and on Fridays we have game day! The teacher for history makes social studies so fun!

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
ELAINE: I would go to Colombia or Rio De Janeiro.
PAYTON: If I could travel anywhere in the world I would go to, Germany, Ireland, and Italy.
TAINOA: I would go to Tahiti because it’s beautiful and looks fun for a trip to skimboard.
CAYSEAN: If I could travel anywhere in the world it would be to Las Vegas, Nevada because 1 my Grandparents live there 2 there is snow on the mountains and lastly is just because its cool there.

Thanks Elaine, Payton, Tainoa, and Caysean for being such great PenPals! Your students can join Schools Around the World, too. Sign up here to get started!

Learn more about project based learning or check out more project based learning examples.

Happy PenPal-ing!