CI 837 Wichita State University December 13, 2012

1. Quality vs. Quantityin Visual Arts Education: Does project-based learning increase student engagement and quality of work among 5th grade students? CI 837 Wichita State University December 13, 2012

2. Outline • Introduction • Research Question • Review of the Literature • Methodology • Results • Discussion • References

3. “Process ... is, in fact, the highest form of content and the most appropriate base for curriculum change. It is in the teaching of process that we can best portray learning as a perpetual endeavor and not something which terminates with the end of school” Parker and Rubin (2006)

4. Introduction • One avenue to higher quality products and increase in student engagement is by providing students with an opportunity to learn through project-based learning (PBL).  

5. Introduction • PBL fosters self-directed learning strategies and makes it easier for students to retain and apply knowledge and solution strategies to new and unfamiliar situations (Blumberg, 2000; Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt [CTGV], 1997; Maxwell, Bellisimo, & Mergendoller, 2001).

6. Research Question • Quality vs. Quantity • Improving Student Engagement • 21st Century Learners

7. Review of the literature • For learning to be relevant in the 21st Century, we must stop valuing right answers and begin to learn how to behave when confronted with paradoxical and ambiguous situations. Doing so requires a shift from valuing knowledge acquisition to valuing knowledge production (Costa and Liebmann, 1995).

8. Review of the Literature • Using real-life problems to motivate students, challenging them to think deeply about meaningful content, and enabling them to work collaboratively are practices that yield benefits for all students (David, 2008).

9. Review of the literature • Project-based Learning • (a) collaboratively determine what they know and need to know • (b) individually research content and/or conduct tests • (c) communicate the research results among themselves • (d) collectively determine a solution to their problem • (e) present their solutions to classmates and/or community representatives (Hmelo-Silver, 2004).  

10. Review of the Literature • Students need to be provided with learning experiences where they can be self-referencing, self-initiating, and self-evaluating—that their capacity to comprehend comes from within (Costa & Liebmann, 1995).

11. Review of the literature • Meaningfulness exists not in the individual’s mind exclusively, or in the cultural world, but at the intersection where individuals engage with their culture in order to make sense of their experiences in the world (Bruner, 1990; Little, 1993).  

12. methodology • Participants

13. Methodology • Teacher-basedStrategy • Project-basedStrategy

14. methodology • Engagement • Perception and Observation Categories • -Positive Body Language -Clarity of Learning • -Consistent Focus -Meaningfulness of Work • -Verbal Participation -Rigorous Thinking • -Student Confidence -Performance Orientation • -Fun and Excitement -Overall • -Individual Attention

15. Methodology

16. results

17. results

18. results

19. Research Question

20. results

21. results

22. results

23. results

24. conclusion • Project-based learning does increase student engagement and quality of work. • Only 2 out of 70 students did not show an increase due soley to behavior.

25. references • Blumberg, P. (2000). Evaluating the evidence that problem-based learners are self-directed learners: A review of the literature [Review [Title of Reviewed Work], by D. H. Evenson, Ed & C. E. Hmelo, Ed]. Problem-based learning: A research perspective on learning interactions, 199-226. • Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. • Costa, A. L., & Liebmann, R. (1995). Response/process is as important as content. Aiming for Higher Standards, 52(6), 23-24. • David, J. L. (2008). Project based learning. Teaching Students to Think, 65(5), 80-82.

26. references • Hemlo-Silver, C. E. (2004). Problem-based learning: What and how do students learn? Educational Psychology Review, 16, 235-266. • Little, B. R. (1993). Personal projects and the distributed self: Aspects of a conative psychology [Review of the book [Title of Reviewed Work]]. In S. J. In (Author), Psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. 4). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. • Maxwell, N. L., Bellisimo, Y., & Mergendoller, J. (2001). Problem-based learning: Modifying the medical school model for teaching high-school economics. The Social Studies, 92(2), 73-78. • Parker, J. C., & Rubin, L. J. (1966). Process as content: Curriculum design and the application of knowledge. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally and Company.