What is PBL and Why Use it

 PBL is a student-driven approach in which learners build 21st century skills like collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity while working together to cope with a real-world challenge and to research options, to ask relevant questions and find possible solutions. I'm quite frightened with the idea of getting out of my comfort zone by giving up the idea of curriculum. But, conversely, I'm definitely fascinated with the idea of having kids learn something when they need it and that of putting them in the position of using the knowledge that they get to tackle real-life problems.
 As a matter of fact we do need to massively implement PBL in our classrooms. We have to provide our learners with those social and intellectual cross-cultural skills  -persistence, communication, collaboration, creativity, innovation, information literacy, flexibility, adaptation, initiative, self-direction- that they need as soon as they leave school and enter the real world.
I'm sure that PBL is a way that can allow us to reach all students and get them engaged. Yet, I'm also aware of the challenges that starting implementing PBL in a classroom involves. Honestly, I think that all the five components together may present teachers with an amount of difficulties at the beginning. But I also think that it is a matter of training. Having authentic problems to drive the curriculum; incorporating the standards in the building of the projects;  letting kids take control of their Learning while becoming facilitators of that process; carefully scaffolding  collaboration; integrating assessment, self assessment and peer assessment throughout the entire process. All of these may be regarded as the skills that a teacher needs to develop and implement in their everyday teaching.