“Myla Gupta checked the nest of a leghorn chicken inside a coop she helped build at Terra Linda High School, an example of the project-based learning that is an element of Common Core standards.”
Right.
And the students who really do get ahead in STEM majors and careers actually know formulas, how to apply them, and solve problems for which the structure and methods transfer to hosts of other problems.
I got as far as here:
“The standards, which emphasize critical thinking over rote memorization, have met with scathing criticism in some states, often because of the way related testing was done. In California, however, Common Core was supported by 95 percent of 1,000 teachers surveyed in 2015 by EdSource, a journalism website.”
I’m not aware of math standards that emphasize rote memorization. It sounds like this reporter had a buzzword generator and used it until it wore out.
traditional math 
“We run project-based learning because it emphasizes skills,” said Cyane Dandridge, executive director of Strategic Energy Innovations”
“emphasizes skills.”
Blah, blah, woof, woof, whatever.
PBL should be done (at most) occasionally and after students have individual skills that need to be integrated. Low level skills have to be developed and mastered separately. If she is talking about integration or application skills, then we are living in a never-never land where the meaning of words like “skills” is whatever brings in funding and support. PBL cannot be driven down to mastery of low level skills. It is a bottom up skill mastery end product at best – badly done with really low expectations in most cases I’ve seen.
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“I’m not aware of math standards that emphasize rote memorization.”
I wondered the same about where the Common Core State Standards emphasize project-based learning.
How do you find this lazy journalism, Barry?
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I’d say the lazy journalism finds me no matter where I hide!
I agree that CC does not explicitly require project based, or even student-centered learning.
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