What we do?

The Internet Free Education Resource Bank features over 120 engaging and student-centered project-based learning (PBL) resources that can be completed with no technology requirements in low-resourced contexts. The multidisciplinary projects are designed for 3 different age groups: 4 – 6, 7 – 9 and 10 – 14 year old learners. They promote self-lead learning and are aligned to the expected learning outcomes of 5 international curricula for these age groups.

IFERB's PBL resources are extended, weeklong activities that are interdisciplinary in nature covering several subjects with an additional focus on literacy and numeracy skills. The projects are designed to be student lead, requiring low parental involvement. The projects are designed to be contextualized and adapted by educators and parents who wish to use them in order to ensure that the projects are relevant to their contexts and learning needs of their children. The project bank now has over 120 projects across the three age groups and is available in English, Arabic, French, Urdu, Hindi, and a number of other Indian languages.

EAA has piloted IFERB in 5 different countries (Kenya, India, Pakistan, Lebanon and Zambia) with promising preliminary results. In one of our India pilots, students grew 18% in their understanding of project-related concepts as well as in different 21st century skills such as communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Over 80% of participating organizations, teachers, students, and parents have expressed their satisfaction with the projects and desire to continue using project-based learning with their students.

Why we do it?

IFERB was initially designed as a stop-gap solution to continue learning in the emergency context created by the coronavirus pandemic. With a focus on developing skills that are critical to support continued learning, the projects are intended to supplement and complement educational content disseminated through alternative or traditional channels including textbooks, TV, radio etc. However, in contexts where learners do not have access to any education (e.g. out-of-school learners), IFERB can act as a standalone learning solution given its interdisciplinary nature and longer engagement period of 5 days on average. Other implementation models for IFERB include its use as a summer or afterschool enrichment program and as a component of a blended learning program where projects can complement traditional classroom instruction.