🎯 Permission to Try (and Fail): Creating a Culture of Courage in PBL

🧱 Step One: Rethink What “Safe” Really Means in a Project Based Learning Classroom Based Learning Classroom

In a PBL classroom, safety doesn’t mean “nothing goes wrong.” It means students feel emotionally and intellectually secure enough to try things that might not work — to present ideas that aren’t fully formed, to fail publicly, and to get back up and try again.

Here’s what that looks like in action:

●      A student volunteers an idea that sounds wild at first but sparks a new line of inquiry.

●      A group presents a project prototype that’s half-baked, seeking feedback instead of perfection.

●      A teacher says, “I don’t know yet — let’s find out together.”

If you want students to take creative and intellectual risks, you’ve got to take some yourself.

🧠 Step Two: Build the Physical & Emotional Environment for Risk

Think of your classroom like a launch pad. It has to be sturdy enough to support the lift-off.

Ask yourself:

●      Are there spaces for students to test ideas before presenting them?

●      Do your routines invite student voice and decision-making?

●      Are mistakes normalized and analyzed, not punished?

Simple tweaks can go a long way:

●      Post a “failure wall” where students reflect on what didn’t work and what they learned.

●      Celebrate iteration by displaying multiple versions of student work.

●      Use sentence stems like, “One thing I tried…” or “Next time, I might…” to normalize reflection and revision.

And let’s be honest — this kind of culture takes time. But it starts with modeling.

🗣️ Step Three: Model Vulnerability & Curiosity

Students won’t risk being wrong if they think the teacher never is.

When you model vulnerability — by asking questions you don’t know the answer to, admitting when something didn’t go as planned, or sharing a time you struggled with a project — you give your students permission to do the same.

Try this:

●      Start your week with a “risk I took” moment.

●      Invite students to share something they’re unsure about in their work.

●      Use open-ended questions like, What surprised you? What’s still unclear? What might you try differently?

Curiosity and risk-taking are contagious — but only if they’re visible.

🧩 Step Four: Embed Risk into the Learning Process 

It’s one thing to say “take risks” — it’s another to structure learning experiences where risk is necessary for success.

Here’s how to do that in a PBL context:

●      Launch projects with real-world problems that don’t have a single right answer.

●      Offer multiple pathways to demonstrate learning, encouraging students to choose unfamiliar formats or topics.

●      Design checkpoints where students share in-progress work and get feedback, knowing they’ll have time to revise.

Remember: we’re not talking about reckless risks. We’re talking about academic risk-taking — trying a new tool, choosing a complex topic, challenging a commonly held belief.

🧭 Step Five: Reflect Often, Celebrate Loudly

Risk without reflection can feel like chaos. Reflection turns experience into growth.

Build in time to ask:

●      What was hard about this?

●      What did you try that didn’t work?

●      What did you learn about yourself as a thinker?

And don’t forget to celebrate. Not just the polished final product, but the messy middle: the pivot, the question that changed everything, the brave presentation that didn’t quite land.

Make those moments part of your classroom story.

Final Word: You Go First

If you want a classroom full of bold thinkers, you have to be one. That doesn’t mean you have to be loud or flashy. It just means you show up willing to risk right alongside your students.

Because the truth is: every project begins with uncertainty. And every breakthrough starts with someone daring to try.

So let’s make our classrooms the kind of places where that can happen — every single day.

Learn more about creating a risk-taking culture in your classroom with Hacking Project Based Learning.

TAKE A RISK, ACHIEVE MORE 

Read More 

• Cooper, Ross, and Erin Murphy. 2021. Project Based Learning: Real Questions, Real Answers, How to Unpack PBL and Inquiry. Times 10 Publications.
• Rablin, Tyler. 2024. Hacking Student Motivation: 5 Assessment Strategies That Boost Learning Progression and Build Student Confidence. Times 10 Publications. 
• “Teach Your Class to Feed the World.” X10 Publications blog post. November 4, 2024.
• “The Ultimate Guide to Project Based Learning.” X10 Publications blog post. April 15, 2025.

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