ith growing evidence that suggests project-based learning is an effective instructional model demonstrating consistent results in a variety of learning environments, the question can be raised as to why project-based learning does not occur more often within educational systems—and whether or not implementation challenges in low resource contexts could be one potential barrier to more widespread implementation. Indeed, a recent study from WISE delved into the exact question of why project-based learning (PBL)—which is the active method of learning through project work that encourages more hands-on learning—is implemented at such low rates overall, and if challenges with implementing PBL are correlated with whether the learning environment is considered high resource or low resource.
Challenges
As part of the study, participants from around the world were asked to complete an online survey or participate in an online interview where they were asked about their experiences in implementing project-based learning. With 31 participants from 17 countries in roles ranging from teachers to school administrators to school founders and heads of nonprofit organizations, WISE was able to identify several common challenges to implementing project-based learning in a variety of contexts.
First, WISE identified common knowledge-related challenges, such as difficulties planning and designing projects, difficulties designing authentic assessments, and knowledge gaps in teachers’ and students’ prior knowledge. They also found challenges related to motivation, such as struggles with creating a classroom culture of collaboration and teamwork and difficulties aligning beliefs about classroom roles for educators and learners, as well as the challenge of aligning beliefs about the role of learning itself. Finally, WISE identified several organization-related challenges, such as a misalignment between project-based learning and other academic goals, unmet needs related to school administration support, and lastly—and perhaps the biggest challenge of all—a shortage of resources to create real-world, authentic experiences through project-based learning.
Similarly, WISE found that most challenges and barriers to implementing project-based learning depended on decisions being made about how to allocate resources—especially resources such as time, money, human capacity, student competencies and community support. Indeed, while all participants cited substantial and ongoing challenges with the overall lack of resources impacting the long-term sustainability of PBL models, it turned out that it was the lack of access to human capital—not funding, as first hypothesized—that had the highest impact on the success or failure of project-based learning in schools.
Key Findings
Through extensive interviews and surveys with participants in the study, WISE was able to highlight several findings regarding which participants implemented successful sustainable project-based learning models and how they achieved this. First, they found that organizational resources such as access to time and materials for PBL, as well as administrative support and recognition, were the most commonly mentioned resources by participants. Similarly, knowledge resources such as professional development for teachers and social capital resources such as access to experts and trust in the PBL model from the community were cited by several participants as necessary resources to a successful PBL model. Most importantly, almost all participants mentioned students, communities, and networks as being key resources for sustained implementation of project-based learning.
Indeed, another finding highlighted in the report was that social capital—which are the resources that arise from a web of relationships people can access to help them achieve their goals—proved to be perhaps the most essential resource to long-term implementation of PBL models, and often played a role in filling in gaps created by other resource-based challenges. With social capital, participants described how their relationship fostered—or prohibited—trust, flexibility in decision-making and autonomy, and how this led to more sustainable models.
Lastly, effective decision-making requires the ability to acknowledge that two seemingly opposing ideas could both be true, and that to understand the core mechanisms behind project-based learning, six dimensions of decision-making addressing the “how, where, why, when, what and who” of PBL needed to be answered. By plotting PBL models along these six dimensions—core instructional model vs. supplemental activity (how PBL should be used), community-driven vs. curriculum-aligned projects (where PBL’s driving questions should come from), student agency vs. broad learning experiences (why PBL should be implemented), academic vs. non-academic skills (when in a student’s educational journey PBL should be used), standardized vs. individualized (what a learning environment’s specific PBL model should be), and concentrated vs. diffused (who PBL should be implemented with and for)—learning environments could more effectively implement sustainable PBL models tailored to their learners’ needs.
Recommendations
Based on the results of this report, WISE provided several recommendations for school and community leaders wishing to implement sustainable project-based learning within their learning environment. First, consider the various ways people and relationships in the learning environment can serve as resources—or potential barriers—to sustainable implementation. Second, explicitly consider social capital resources along with other available resources. Third, when designing a PBL model, both sides of the spectrum should be considered along the six dimensions of decision-making model. And finally, consider which resources and challenges are most applicable to your specific learning environment when making choices along the six dimensions of decision-making.
a global affairs media network
A Global Look at Project-Based Learning
Photo via Unsplash.
December 17, 2021
A recent study from WISE examined why project-based learning (PBL) is implemented at such low rates globally and if challenges with implementing PBL are correlated with whether the learning environment is considered high resource or low resource.
W
ith growing evidence that suggests project-based learning is an effective instructional model demonstrating consistent results in a variety of learning environments, the question can be raised as to why project-based learning does not occur more often within educational systems—and whether or not implementation challenges in low resource contexts could be one potential barrier to more widespread implementation. Indeed, a recent study from WISE delved into the exact question of why project-based learning (PBL)—which is the active method of learning through project work that encourages more hands-on learning—is implemented at such low rates overall, and if challenges with implementing PBL are correlated with whether the learning environment is considered high resource or low resource.
Challenges
As part of the study, participants from around the world were asked to complete an online survey or participate in an online interview where they were asked about their experiences in implementing project-based learning. With 31 participants from 17 countries in roles ranging from teachers to school administrators to school founders and heads of nonprofit organizations, WISE was able to identify several common challenges to implementing project-based learning in a variety of contexts.
First, WISE identified common knowledge-related challenges, such as difficulties planning and designing projects, difficulties designing authentic assessments, and knowledge gaps in teachers’ and students’ prior knowledge. They also found challenges related to motivation, such as struggles with creating a classroom culture of collaboration and teamwork and difficulties aligning beliefs about classroom roles for educators and learners, as well as the challenge of aligning beliefs about the role of learning itself. Finally, WISE identified several organization-related challenges, such as a misalignment between project-based learning and other academic goals, unmet needs related to school administration support, and lastly—and perhaps the biggest challenge of all—a shortage of resources to create real-world, authentic experiences through project-based learning.
Similarly, WISE found that most challenges and barriers to implementing project-based learning depended on decisions being made about how to allocate resources—especially resources such as time, money, human capacity, student competencies and community support. Indeed, while all participants cited substantial and ongoing challenges with the overall lack of resources impacting the long-term sustainability of PBL models, it turned out that it was the lack of access to human capital—not funding, as first hypothesized—that had the highest impact on the success or failure of project-based learning in schools.
Key Findings
Through extensive interviews and surveys with participants in the study, WISE was able to highlight several findings regarding which participants implemented successful sustainable project-based learning models and how they achieved this. First, they found that organizational resources such as access to time and materials for PBL, as well as administrative support and recognition, were the most commonly mentioned resources by participants. Similarly, knowledge resources such as professional development for teachers and social capital resources such as access to experts and trust in the PBL model from the community were cited by several participants as necessary resources to a successful PBL model. Most importantly, almost all participants mentioned students, communities, and networks as being key resources for sustained implementation of project-based learning.
Indeed, another finding highlighted in the report was that social capital—which are the resources that arise from a web of relationships people can access to help them achieve their goals—proved to be perhaps the most essential resource to long-term implementation of PBL models, and often played a role in filling in gaps created by other resource-based challenges. With social capital, participants described how their relationship fostered—or prohibited—trust, flexibility in decision-making and autonomy, and how this led to more sustainable models.
Lastly, effective decision-making requires the ability to acknowledge that two seemingly opposing ideas could both be true, and that to understand the core mechanisms behind project-based learning, six dimensions of decision-making addressing the “how, where, why, when, what and who” of PBL needed to be answered. By plotting PBL models along these six dimensions—core instructional model vs. supplemental activity (how PBL should be used), community-driven vs. curriculum-aligned projects (where PBL’s driving questions should come from), student agency vs. broad learning experiences (why PBL should be implemented), academic vs. non-academic skills (when in a student’s educational journey PBL should be used), standardized vs. individualized (what a learning environment’s specific PBL model should be), and concentrated vs. diffused (who PBL should be implemented with and for)—learning environments could more effectively implement sustainable PBL models tailored to their learners’ needs.
Recommendations
Based on the results of this report, WISE provided several recommendations for school and community leaders wishing to implement sustainable project-based learning within their learning environment. First, consider the various ways people and relationships in the learning environment can serve as resources—or potential barriers—to sustainable implementation. Second, explicitly consider social capital resources along with other available resources. Third, when designing a PBL model, both sides of the spectrum should be considered along the six dimensions of decision-making model. And finally, consider which resources and challenges are most applicable to your specific learning environment when making choices along the six dimensions of decision-making.
