Contribution: The experiences of three students in a co-curricular project-based design experience are explored. The objective is to characterize authentic and inauthentic (performative) forms of engagement and its potential impact on learning within an authentic experience. We consider these cases in supporting an argument for extensive…

One reason for the widespread use of the energy concept across the sciences is that energy analysis can be used to interpret the behavior of systems even if one does not know the particular mechanisms that underlie the observed behavior. By providing an approach to interpreting unfamiliar phenomena, energy provides a lens on phenomena that can set…

Introduction: Cognitive psychology courses are rich in content that can be useful to broad audiences. Much of the foundational research presented in course texts is conducted in highly constrained laboratory settings, making the concepts difficult to apply or use in the real world. Statement of the Problem: Students in cognitive psychology classes…

Educational authenticity occupies a strong position in higher education research and reform, building on the assumption that correspondence between higher education learning environments and professional settings is a driver of student engagement and transfer of knowledge beyond academia. In this paper, we draw attention to an overlooked aspect of…

This essential guide shares a five-step process for designing, implementing, and assessing sustainable project-based learning (SPBL) units while ensuring students gain surface-, deep-, and transfer-level knowledge. Brad Sever draws from his daily work as a practitioner to deliver practical strategies for creating meaningful learning experiences…

Ample research has identified several features of a learning experience likely to enhance student learning, including collaboration, open-ended exploration, and problem-based learning in real-life scenarios. Missing is a model of how instructors might combine these elements into a single project that works flexibly across disciplines and…

Project-Based Learning (PjBL) curricula offer unique opportunities for student engagement, yet they do not guarantee an engaging classroom. Furthermore, there has been little scholarly work on PjBL pedagogy that supports student engagement. This qualitative research study explores enactment of a PjBL Advanced Placement Physics 1 curriculum and the…

Project-based learning (PBL) grounds instruction in authentic learning experiences where students engage in real-world explorations that culminate in a final product or performance. We report on a mixed methods study with 43 ninth-grade English language arts (ELA) teachers (22 PBL and 21 comparison) and 1,671 students exploring the feasibility of…

Intensive project work framed within a directed motivational current theory can transform an assessment into an engaging learning opportunity. Accordingly, a project built around the "The BIG Issue" framework variant was implemented in an English as a foreign language classroom to explore the purposeful generation of group-directed…

Project-based learning (PBL) is an inquiry-based approach that aims to engage students in challenging, active, and meaningful experiences connected to the world outside the classroom (Baines et al., 2021a). Project-based learning can improve student performance on traditional measures of academic achievement, build social and emotional learning…

The prevalence of project-based learning (PBL) has increased significantly, contributing to serious discussions about its advent. PBL's critics doubt whether accentuating the practice supports teachers in using a technocratic method in education, instead of promoting instruction that is responsive to students' ideas. Thus, this study aims to…

Pre-college engineering education has gained traction in U.S. schools over the past twenty years. This growth is evident with engineering emerging as a crosscutting discipline in the Next Generation Science Standards. However, the scarcity of professional development (PD) for K-12 teachers who want to teach engineering and the few PD opportunities…

This study explores and explains teachers' perceptions and practices in using a reflective practice model to teach STEM education in a blended learning environment. The study was conducted before the COVID-19 lockdown and continued after the quarantine till the end of the semester. The transformative learning and the experiential learning theories…

Contribution: A hybrid approach involving reduced lecture content with project-based learning (PBL) was introduced to a standalone course in optics at an engineering school not specialized in this area, with promising results. Background: At most schools, optics is an elective "niche" area involving a single senior course. This presents…

A call for educational reform motivated this school system to devise an enhanced version of STEM in their middle school. This case provides rich descriptions of how eighth grade middle school teachers, from multiple disciplines, enacted a STEAM team model that integrated Language Arts into STEM. These STEAM team teachers were systematically…