Education Commons^™

Learning To Fly: The Impact Of Project-Based Learning On Development Of The 4cs In The Elementary Grades, Deborah Francois

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the impact of project-based learning on K-5 students’ development of the 4Cs (Critical Thinking, Communication, Creativity, Collaboration) as perceived by elementary charter school teachers.

Methodology: A phenomenological design was selected to address the research questions for this study. Through purposeful sampling, 12 charter elementary teachers who met a pre-determined set of criteria (including the routine integration of project-based learning within their instructional programs) were selected to participate in virtual, semi-structured interviews. All teachers were employed by charter schools located in six counties within California. The interviews were conducted using …

21st-Century Learning: An Autoethnographic Study Of A Principal Opening A New Elementary School To Support Children In A Border Community, Jesse Antonio Sepulveda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This autoethnography analyzes how my life experiences both as a student and as an educator in this community influenced my principalship and my efforts to open a new elementary school focused on college and career readiness. The aim of this dissertation was to utilize an autoethnographic method to examine the process of opening a new elementary school in a far west Texas border community. Current research, along with my own experiences, demonstrates that traditional approaches to teaching and learning no longer move students toward 21st-century learning objectives of problem solving and troubleshooting. The new school, a 21st-century learning facility in …