This School is Made for Students: Students’ Perspectives on PBL

Abstract

Project-based learning (PBL) is an increasingly popular pedagogical method in K-12 settings. Students exposed to this approach have demonstrated higher academic performance than their peers who have not been exposed, as well as positive rates of self-efficacy and other non-academic skills. Using qualitative methods, including observation, artifact collection, interviews, and focus groups, this research explores biology students' perceptions of their project-based learning experiences. In particular, we leverage a student focus group to understand how students perceive their learning experience. In this focus group, students perceive project-based learning as a positive influence on their agency, self-efficacy, and learning experience as a whole. Significantly, students' accounts reveal how their positive perceptions of PBL correspond with purposefully designed elements of project-based learning. This article offers implications for teachers and educational leaders interested in how students perceive project-based learning and how they might integrate project-based learning into their classrooms.