Overview:
Project-based learning transformed the author’s teaching by linking constructivist theory to real-world practice, fostering student collaboration, inquiry, and critical thinking.
Excitement! Anxiety! Hope! These were just a few of the many emotions I felt when I stood in front of a high school classroom for the first time as the teacher. I was the one writing on the chalkboard and overhead projector. I was also the only one expected to design, plan, and teach every daily lesson. I put a lot of pressure on myself not to fall into the traps my own teachers had fallen into. I wanted my students to be inspired and excited to learn high school science. I thought that by opening the doors to the amazing world of science, they would soon love it as much as I do. I quickly learned that engagement and motivation were just a few of the challenges teachers face.
As a new teacher switching careers and stepping into the lead role in the high school classroom for the first time, I had a poorly defined teaching philosophy and no experience with educational theory or research. With my science background and limited educational training, I never learned to examine or apply educational theories and research into my teaching. I participated in summer and evening courses to complete my alternative certification, but the theories of Bloom and others were often presented with little to no context for my day-to-day teaching.
Project-Based Learning in a Middle School Classroom
With a family move, I found myself accepting a position in a lottery-based community charter school teaching middle school science. As the school grew, our administration started us on the path to incorporating and focusing on project-based learning. Over a three-year transition period, we met weekly as staff. During these times, we would investigate and discuss the elements of project-based learning (PBL).
We would dive into articles and online resources, and then break off into our grade-level groups. As time went on, our middle school group of teachers (2 per grade level) developed into a community that could share ideas, give feedback and support, and build a PBL curriculum. As the year went on, we began incorporating aspects of PBL into small, interdisciplinary lessons. We restructured away from subject-specific teaching responsibilities (I taught middle school science grades 6-8) toward interdisciplinary grade-level teaching (7th-grade math and science). With this change, I started to add more math into my science lessons with chemistry, space, earth, and ecology.
Project-Based Learning & Constructivism Working Together
Since starting my newest journey into educational research, I can look at Project-Based Learning methodology from the view of educational theory and how it is applied. This led me to constructivism and learning about the role of psychology and cognitive theorists in learning and development. I started to see a shift from focusing on content and lecture to interactive exploration and a focus on my students more as individuals. According to Chand (2024), “learning is viewed as constructed, active, reflective, collaborative, inquiry-based, and evolving in a constructivist classroom.”
When working with my collaborating teachers and admin, one of our major goals was to connect student projects to the real world. By using scientific processes, students were able to investigate authentic community problems such as water pollution,the intersection of math and street art in our city, and working with a local garden to design raised garden beds. John Dewey, a leading theorist of constructivism, emphasized student involvement in their own learning through doing (Jumaat, et.al, 2017) just as we were beginning to do.
Project-based learning supports deeper learning as students construct knowledge through active learning experiences. Students are able to build on the understanding that they bring with them into the classroom (Bell, 2010; Chand, 2024). This prior know-how is an important aspect of a constructivist classroom. Students use their experiences to problem-solve within the PBL framework while developing new mental models (Jumaat et al., 2017). Due to this overlap of PBL and constructivism, learning was developing into more of a subjective and relative process, with students working together guided by the teacher
Building Learning Communities in Project-Based Learning
At the start of a project, I needed to think critically about student groupings and necessary scaffolding based on my students’ current skill levels and prior knowledge. Having students working in groups is challenging in a lot of ways, especially in middle school. Teachers and students have their own experiences that they carry with them into these situations, and they can be a barrier to successfully working in groups. The theories and ideas of Lev Vygotsky, a Russian cognitive scientist during the 1930s, really supported the collaborative community I was looking to develop in my classroom. One of Vygotsky’s most well-known theories is the theory of the zone of proximal development (aka ZPD).
Essentially, the knowledge and skills that a student struggles with today will be something they are proficient in tomorrow. How does this happen? With the help of “more knowledgeable others” such as peers, teachers, and experts through scaffolding. I think of scaffolding as building a bridge between the current mental frameworks my students have about a concept and taking that one step farther; adding a science process or elaborating on the details of a concept. And the great thing about PBL, scaffolding of student learning is built in! Every time my students worked together to research, discuss, ask questions, review, and talk with a community member or staff, they were building that bridge.
Zone of Proximity
Maintaining and building these scaffolds and constant learning goals that fit into the theory of ZPD, may sound exhausting but with careful design and PBL framework, it was very doable. Some of the strategies I used included peer-to-peer coaching, daily inquiry questions, and frequent individual and group formative assessment. This allowed me to focus on building my classroom into a community and through this our students were able to design meaningful artifacts, develop skills in science investigation and research, think critically, and reflect about their individual learning. My role as a teacher developed into more of a learning facilitator guiding my students through investigations about the world around them.
As I continued to dig deeper into collaboration and its impact on learning, I wondered how much of the social aspect was included in these theories of constructivism? Looking back, Vygotsky not only looked at how to support learning effectively and efficiently, but also the complexity of learning and the role that others play in our development. His sociocultural theory impressed in me the role our social interactions and shared culture have on learning. This question led to a deeper investigation into the influence our social group, or student group in this case, has on my students’ learning. Harland (2002) embedded Vygotsky’s theory and PBL into an undergraduate Zoology class. He found that “experience showed that students were seldom limited by their disciplinary knowledge, but nearly always by their metacognitive skills and life skills such as communication and collaborating in groups.” And that hit me like a brick and forced me to really examine in my heart the goal of education.
Collaboration and Impact
In my experience, coming to teaching after working in the “real world”, it was important to me that my students develop skills they would need in the adult world while never losing their excitement for investigating the natural world around them. And while this transition was bumpy and at times exhausting, the team collaboration, transition from the “sage on the stage” to a facilitator/guide, and accepting feedback from others has led to monumental philosophical change in my teaching. I saw that PBL proved to be more cognitively demanding and embodied the struggle that is true understanding that students need to be able to do in our 21st-century working world (Boss, S., 2011).
Next for Learning About Project-Based Learning
I encourage every teacher who wants to prepare their students to be independent and curious to explore the theories of project-based learning and constructivism. A great place to start is The Buck Institute of Education’s PBLWorks (2013).
They have identified seven essential components of a superlative PBL listed here: 1) challenging problem or question, 2) sustained inquiry, 3) authenticity, 4) student voice & choice, 5) reflection, 6) critique & revision, and 7) public product (2013). There are also a variety of schools popping up that have embraced PBL, such as High Tech High in San Diego, and others found around the country. Dig a little deeper and find your first project today! Your students will be engaged, inspired, and prepared for the future.
References
Bell, S. (2010). Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future. The Clearing House, 83(2), 39–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/00098650903505415
Boss, S. (2011). Project-based learning: A short history. Edutopia.
Buck Institute of Education. (2013). Gold Standard PBL: Essential Project Design Elements. PBLWorks. https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl/gold-standard-project-design
Chand, Satish. (2024). Constructivism in Education: Exploring the Contributions of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR). 12. 274-278. DOI: 10.21275/SR23630021800
Harland, T. 2002. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Problem-based Learning: linking a theoretical concept with practice through action research. Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2003, pp. 263–272. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233309078_Vygotsky%27s_Zone_of_Proximal_Development_and_Problem-based_Learning_Linking_a_theoretical_concept_with_practice_through_action_research
Jumaat, N., Tasir, Z., Abdhalim, N., & Mohamad Ashari, Z. (2017). Project-Based Learning from Constructivism Point of View. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience. Advanced Science Letters. 23. 7904–7906. DOI:10.1166/asl.2017.9605. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320558653_Project
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Angela Stull uses cooperative and project-based learning in her middle and high school science classroom. She is currently working toward her doctorate in science education at Virginia Tech where she has the opportunity to coach and support pre-service teachers. She is also a Project WILD facilitator and is always looking for a way to get her students outside in nature.
