Effective PBL projects set specific guiding questions (e.g. how to improve water quality in the Mississippi River?), achieve learning goals (e.g. students demonstrate water chemistry concepts and analyze data with GIS software), and utilize authentic assessment strategies aligned with NGSS or CCSS, often developing scoring rubrics tailored to 3-5 project phases, fostering collaboration and critical thinking among 4-6 student groups in class or virtually across geographic locations