Bonham Elementary School
Model School Project

Evaluation - Qualitative and Quantitative

Curriculum must be designed so that it reflects real life situations, especially in the areas of science, mathematics and technology (Bentley, 1995). Studies have shown that students who are involved in PBL acquire knowledge and become proficient in problem solving. (Robertson, 2000) Furthermore, PBL students often perform as well as their counterparts from traditional classrooms on national exams, with the added benefit of working through problems logically and making connections to the real world. In The Process of Education, Jerome Bruner writes; “Students should know what it feels like to be completely absorbed in a problem. They seldom experience this feeling in school” (Bruner, 1962). This is also a fundamental tenet of the field-based operations within the Teacher Education department at UTEP, and allows for the engagement of theory and practice in actual El Paso classrooms and communities.

Meaning is a human construction with a social situation. The learner is always defining meaning within the context of action and reflection. Yet, educators must beware of regarding the learner’s point of view as fully complete and significant in and of itself. (Dewey, 1970). Each learner understands content and concepts differently based on his or her previous experiences. The students need opportunities to address misconceptions and to develop concepts in real world situations. “Students come to school with their own ideas, some correct and some not, about almost every topic they are likely to encounter” (Rutherford and Algren, 1990). Learning is the responsibility of the learner, but the teacher guides the student into developing meaning from content material and classroom experience.

Description of the Research Project

The research study will be a product of working with teachers in a process to develop PBL units of study in which they will in turn engage their students. Specifically, the research focus with the teachers will be to determine how the development of a PBL instructional approach to deliver the elementary content and curriculum will impact the content knowledge of the teachers in the areas of science, mathematics and technology. The research will incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in the implementation and analysis of the research instruments.

By immersing teachers in a problem-based learning approach that focuses on issues of science, mathematics and technology, the skills and overall content knowledge of the teachers will increase. The research will utilize survey instruments, including technology skills assessments and overall content knowledge assessment. As a future study, the researcher will measure the impact of this approach on the learning of students in the classrooms.
UTEP