Discussions

The Effects of PBL Integration across the Curriculum on Student Engagement in Albania

Author: Erviola Konomi
High school: “Zhani Ciko” 
Country: Albania

Key words: PBL, engagement, curriculum, project,
                               Abstract
Over the last two decades, the interest in student engagement has grown. Engaged students show behavioral involvement in learning and positive emotional tone. On the other hand, many teachers are often required to teach to a standardized curriculum and a set pedagogy with the majority of their time spent on teaching mathematics and literacy and having no time or autonomy to use creative and student-centered pedagogies or to include the arts in their curriculum or to use PBL methodology in their teaching. This study was designed to investigate how PBL integration across the curriculum affects student engagement.
• Are educational pursuits more important to students that have experienced in PBL integration across the curriculum for one or more years than to students that have had the same experience but for less than one year?
• Is the level of engagement in the learning process for students that have experienced in PBL, for one or more years higher than other students?
Methodology: The participants in the study completed the Survey for Student Engagement tasks The collected data was analyzed and revealed significant relationship between PBL integration across the curriculum and students engagement in the learning process, the important of educational pursuits to them and engagement of students in the learning process as well as in real life. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used for the realization of the research. Specifically, the methods used are: the method of observation, historical and synthetic.
Expected Results: The study showed that project-based learning students get higher outcomes than traditional classmates. It can not be learned only from books but also through experience. The PBL base is focusing on originality or real-life research implementation. Research and observations showed far-reaching benefits from implementing PBL strategies in the classroom student learning goals, including a broader understanding of concepts, a broader knowledge base, improved communication and interpersonal / social skills, enhanced leadership skills. Successful problem solving often requires students to learn lessons from some disciplines and apply them in a very practical way.

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