I’m at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting this week in San Diego, CA. I’m presenting three session throughout the week, which is a little tough to get through. On Tuesday, I presented on “Coming to Understand the Influences on and Artifacts of Learning.” Today, I’m presenting “Understanding Projects in Project-based Learning: A Student’s Perspective.” The abstract reads:
Project-based learning offers promise as an instructional method that affords authentic learning tasks grounded in the personal interests of learners. While previous research has presented results of learning gains, motivations and teacher experiences, still limited empirical research has presented the student perspective in project-based learning. This research sought to explore how learners created projects. Using a case study design and five purposively selected participants from eighth grade geography, five themes emerged: (1) internal influences, (2) external influences, (3) beliefs about projects, (4) tools for technology-rich environments, and (5) learning outcomes and products. The first four themes describe influences to shape the fifth theme, learning products. The term learning products was used to describe both the learning garnered by the participants and the learning artifacts the participants produced as part of the instructional unit. Implications for practice and future research are considered.
You can download the complete file here.
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I remember hating projects in high school. They were my least favorite assignment in any given class. That being said, the information I remember most from my classes came from what I discovered while working on a project. While working on projects, I was pushed to not only understand the topics in class but also to find connections with other information and connections to my life. Projects not only helped me discover more about the topic from class but they taught me more about myself. Most of my reasoning for disliking projects came from teachers not giving clear expectations, assigning so much that the project became boring and redundant, or the project being too much work for the resources and time at hand.
Reading over this study, I realize the value of assigning projects as long as the teacher takes the time to think it out and make it a pertinent project. Projects can be a very valuable tool in the classroom, but can also be overused. As a preservice teacher, it is important for me to already be thinking of how I can use projects as a helpful tool. It is always a good reminder that students need very clear expectations and a project that they can complete successfully while still having room for them to be creative and discover new knowledge.