Engaging Students Through Project Based Learning (PjBL)

Project Based Learning (PjBL) is a pedagogy model through which students gain knowledge and skills by investigating and responding to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge. Because this model can be applied at any stage of learning, PjBL has become more and more integrated across the scope of students’ academic journeys in primary, secondary, and higher learning.

Motivation to learn is promoted when learners believe they can succeed in mastering the learning task.

A central concept related to building confidence in mastering learning tasks is that of control (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018). When people do not have positive expectations for success or when they have been unable to avoid failures and catastrophes over which they have no control, they can develop feelings of helplessness (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018). One study found that the implementation of authentic assessment in project-based learning increased student’s concept mastering (Sambeka, Nahadi, & Sriyati, 2017). Another study concluded that project-based learning may improve student scores on an end of unit assessment over traditional learning methods (Bendlage, 2021). A third study found an increase in understanding of the material coupled with an increase in confidence (Farrell & Carr, 2019). PjBL allows students to engage with learning experiences in ways that allow them to best demonstrate their mastery of a concept. Because of this, they are then more likely to feel they have successfully mastered the learning task.

Motivation to learn is promoted when learners anticipate and experience satisfying outcomes to a learning task.

Feeling good about accomplishments and not feeling inappropriately bad when not successful is a result of several external and internal factors. External factors include the use of reinforcement contingencies that provide appropriate rewards for accomplishments. (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018) Because students are leading their own learning inquiries, they are not only more engaged in the learning process, they also find the experiences to be more rewarding (Sambeka, et al., 2017; Bass & Kraus, 2018; Zen, Reflianto, Syamsuar, & Ariani, 2022).

As students are given ownership of how they demonstrate their knowledge of concepts, they are much more likely to feel satisfaction in the outcomes. This also promotes a sense of pride in their work, and because of this, students are more likely to fully engage with the content. Additionally, in many cases students are able to choose and submit what they consider to be their best work. This in turn allows students to feel a sense of satisfaction and allows students to feel more confident in the outcomes.

Motivation to learn is promoted and maintained when learners employ volitional (self-regulatory) strategies to protect their intentions.

It is questionable that learners always follow a direct, uninterrupted path from goal-setting to goal achievement. Instead, students pursue not one but multiple goals aimed not only at learning but also at a variety of positive experiences. (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018). Learners decide how to approach a problem and what activities to pursue (Sambeka, et al., 2017). Additionally, Project-based learning holds promise for engaging students with disabilities and other diverse learners in “learning by doing,” responding to real-life scenarios, and relevant driving questions (Mulcahy & Wertz, 2021). Because students are often answering prompts based on real-life scenarios, the learning feels more immediately applicable to them. Additionally, because the learning is often choice based, students are more likely to fully engage with PjBL curriculums because they are in the “driver's seat” when it comes to their learning experiences. Further, PjBL provides students opportunities to build skills they will be employing outside the classroom in real time which also promotes engagement.

References:

Bendladge, A. (2021). The Effect of Project-Based Learning on Student Mastery of NGSS Practices [Master's thesis, Northwest College, Iowa]. NWCommons. https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1273&context=education_masters

Boss, S, & Krauss, J. (2018). Reinventing Project-Based Learning, 3rd Edition. International Society for Technology in Education.

Farrell, F., & Carr, M. (2019). The effect of using a project-based learning (PBL) approach to improve engineering students’ understanding of statistics. Teaching Mathematics & Its Applications, 38(3), 135–145. https://doi- org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.1093/teamat/hrz005

Mulcahy, C. A., & Wertz, J. A. (2021). Using Project-Based Learning to build college and career readiness among diverse learners. Teaching Exceptional Children, 53(5), 341–349. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.1177/0040059920964833

[PBLWorks]. (2019, June 5). Project Based Teaching Practices: Assess Student Learning [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/pTm6x5VBivk

Reiser, R., & Dempsey, J. (2018). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, 4th Edition. Pearson.

Sambeka, Y., Nahadi, & Sriyati, S. (2017). Implementation of authentic assessment in the project based learning to improve student’s concept mastering. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1848(1). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4983980

Zen, Z., Reflianto, Syamsuar, & Ariani, F. (2022). Academic achievement: The effect of project-based online learning ... Heliyon 8. https://www.cell.com/heliyon/pdf/S2405-8440(22)02797-9.pdf