Education Commons^™

Promoting Civil Discourse Through Coffee And Common Ground, Alan English

The Advocate

Research suggests that America today is more politically polarized and less capable of conducting civil public discourse than at least the last several decades. These greater cultural factors unsurprisingly seem to have trickled into American schools, as teachers report increased divisiveness and conflict, particularly directed toward historically-marginalized groups, in class. While it seems sensible that public schools should play a role in teaching American children how to civilly speak with people different than themselves, teachers are often unprepared to do so. This paper describes a project-based learning activity conducted during the Fall 2022 semester which was designed to empower pre-service …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Responsible Classrooms: Unfinalizability, Responsibility, And Participatory Literacy In Secondary English Language Arts, Emma Jamilah Gist

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines participatory literacy practice in secondary English language arts classrooms. While literacy achievement in this context is often measured according to a student’s ability to receive and repeat predetermined information within the scope of mandated curricula and standardized tests, this study attends specifically to classroom literacy practice that centers authentic, unanticipated, dialogic student response. Within its consideration of literacy practice, this study applies the Bakhtinian notion of unfinalizability to consider those conditions that allow for learning experiences that are not predetermined but are rather uniquely, unpredictably, and unrepeatably co-constructed by individual students, student groups, and teachers. These unfinalizable …

The Impact Of Pbl As A Stem School Reform Model, Michael R. L. Odell, Teresa J. Kennedy, Eric Stocks

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Project/problem-based learning (PBL) can provide an effective model for school reform when implemented with fidelity. In the report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, it was recommended that if the U.S. is to remain competitive in the 21st-century economy, there must be a serious effort to “enlarge the pipeline of students who are prepared to enter college and graduate with a degree in STEM” (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2007, p. 6). The report included the recommendation that states develop statewide specialty STEM high schools (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, …

Utilizing Project-Based Learning To Increase Engagement And Performance In The High School Classroom, Alan English

Prairie Journal of Educational Research

Abstract

Project-based learning was incorporated into a high school American History course unit where students were expected to write an original history of the Vietnam War based exclusively on primary sources. Throughout the school year, students working as a collective unit worked to raise funds at school events for the purpose of surprising a class guest speaker, a Vietnam veteran, with a sponsored flight to Washington D.C. through Kansas Honor Flights. In addition to creating an experience of civic participation, student engagement (as measured by rate of completion of the project) and performance (as measured by average grade on the …

Facilitating Problem Framing In Project-Based Learning, Vanessa Svihla, Richard Reeve

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

While problem solving is a relatively well understood process, problem framing is less well understood, particularly with regard to supporting students to learn as they frame problems. Project-based learning classrooms are an ideal setting to investigate how teachers facilitate this process. Using participant observation, this study investigated how teachers supported students in taking ownership over the framing of problems in a charter school that serves students who have been underserved by traditional schooling. Data include audio/video records, field notes, interviews, and student work from a nineweek project. Interaction analysis was used to examine ownership and learning over time. Analysis suggests …

The Positive Impact Of Project-Based Learning On Attendance Of An Economically Disadvantaged Student Population: A Multiyear Study, Casey Creghan, Kathleen Adair-Creghan

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Students who do not regularly attend high school are at an increased risk of failure in the classroom and may eventually contribute to a higher dropout rate. More specifically, the attendance rates of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds have traditionally been lower than those with average means. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects of a project-based learning (PjBL) environment on economically disadvantaged high school students in regard to their attendance rates. Data were collected in order to compare attendance rates of a school utilizing traditional teaching methodologies with a school using PjBL as the …

Assessing The Role Of Online Technologies In Project-Based Learning, Jason Ravitz, Juliane Blazevski

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

This study examines the relationships between teacher-reported use of online resources, and preparedness, implementation challenges, and time spent implementing project- or problem-based learning, or approaches that are similar to what we call “PBL” in general. Variables were measured using self-reports from those who teach in reform network high schools that emphasize PBL approaches (n = 166) and those who do not (n = 164). In both school types, technology use was positively related to the amount of PBL use and teacher preparedness. We used path analysis (two-group SEM) to test a model that predicted online technology use in the context …

The Impacts Of A Project-Based Research Course: A Mixed Method Survey Of Students, Alumni, And Teachers In Li-Shan High School, Taipei, Taiwan, Peiyu Lee

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis presented the results of a mixed-method study of the impact of a Project-based Research course in a public high school in Taipei, Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the Project-based Research course from the perspectives of the current students, alumni, and teachers. The high school incorporated traditional education and project-based learning models as their teaching methods. When both students and teachers had to face the dual pressure of adhering to both models, it was unknown if the project-based learning had the same influence as indicated in the research literature on project-based learning. …