Hi, I'm Tan.
I've been a middle and high school math teacher for years, and PBL Math is the resource I wish had existed when I started. Every lesson and tool here has been used in a real classroom, broken, fixed, and used again. Free under GPL v3.0 — fork it, remix it, share it with your team.
Learning is just funner when we can create stuff.
PBL Math aims to make learning an enjoyable activity where students see how different disciplines are interconnected — and where the tangible results from engaging with their learning are reflections of the real world.
Eight reasons it works.
Why PBL, when there are so many other ways to teach math? Here's what I've seen across hundreds of students.
Disciplines connect
Students see how math, art, music, and economics all live in the same conversation — not separate classrooms.
Every product is unique
End products reflect each student's own thinking. No two projects look exactly alike.
Engagement spikes
The most reluctant math students suddenly want extra time when there's a real artifact to take home.
Retention improves
Designed well, PBL doesn't replace skill practice — it produces it through the project itself.
Students gain agency
When students have autonomy to express ideas, they take ownership of their learning in a way nothing else replicates.
Long-term planning
Projects span weeks or months. Students learn how to organize, draft, and execute over real timescales.
"Different versions of correct"
The right answer depends on inputs and decisions. Each student's project is a different version of correct — a powerful lesson on its own.
It's better for them
Bottom line: students remember what they built. They forget what they bubbled-in.
Four myths, debunked.
The reasons teachers tell themselves PBL won't work — and why each one falls apart on closer look.
Myth 1 "It takes a lot of time to design and run PBL."
Like anything in education, the initial process takes time — it still takes time to make a worksheet (unless you're using pre-made ones). If you want a curriculum handed to you, no thought required, and a pre-made pacing guide, PBL isn't for you. But if you want an exciting career and engaged students, you'll have to put in the initial work.
Yes, designing a well-thought-out project takes time. But once it's built, it only takes a few hours each year to refine. That's why this site exists — you can adapt any project here to your own students.
Myth 2 "PBL costs money."
Yes and no. There's the conceptual side — students can engage and create wonderful digital projects for free (see Graf(It) Art). Then there are "tangible" projects, which need some money. Projects range anywhere from $10 to $1000s. Start small to get the hang of it, then build up. Look for teacher grants — they're all over the internet.
Myth 3 "Grading projects takes a lot of time."
No. Projects should be done in stages using a design cycle. Build an education culture that values the process over the end product. A final exhibition should include a binder/folder showing the process — demonstrating how the math is consistently applied to create the work.
If you grade as you go (drafts, checkpoints, etc.), there's less to grade at the end. If you use technology correctly (see Rubric Maker), it can do some of the grading for you. The joy of seeing unique individualized projects outweighs the boredom of grading worksheets.
Myth 4 "Students don't retain as much as they would with traditional teaching."
The opposite, when PBL is designed well. The key is repetition + rigor + relevance. A well-designed project doesn't skip skill practice — it generates dozens of opportunities to apply a concept inside an authentic context. Students remember what they built. They forget what they bubbled-in.
Try it with one lesson.
The fastest way to convince yourself is to run something with your own students. Pick a lesson, try it next week, and see what happens.