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Literature Review: Project Based Learning

Aileen Tapia
The University of Texas at El Paso
RWS 1302: Research and Writing Studies

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Abstract
Project Based Learning has been proven to have more advantages than
disadvantages. Project Based Learning has been implemented into different areas of
study, and in most of the cases, this instructional method has been more efficient than
traditional instructional methods. Even though Project Based Learning is available to
implement into the topic of choice of the instructor first they need to be able to
understand the concept of Project Based Learning, since perhaps they lack the
guidance into how to actually implement Project Based Learning into the topic they
are educating. In this research, it is discussed the implementation of Project Based
Learning into different areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM) and how it contributes to the learning of students. In this research we will also
define what Project Based Learning is and different characteristics that makes it a
distinguishable learning technique. Also, how it can be improved and challenges with
it.

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Introduction
Nowadays, educations is becoming an essential tool to success, and in many
cases it is given for granted. America is facing a Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math (STEM) crisis, since we continue to have a steady enrollment rate of
undergraduates in STEM fields, rather than an increase. Additionally, the way
students learn STEM fields is not the most effective one, and once they are working
as a full-time employee in corporate America, is hard for employees to adapt into
that fast paced, hands-on environment. This issue has to do with the fact that every
student learns a different way; therefore the instructional method should be
delivered in such a way, it benefits the most students possible. In order to fully
understand and define Project Based Learning (PBL), it is important to consider that
students, by psychological studies, learn independently different. According to
research, Project Based Learning is a model that organizes learning around
projectsprojects are complex tasks, based on challenging questions or problems,
that involve student in design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative
activities; give students the opportunity to work relatively autonomously over
extended periods of time; and culminate in realistic products or presentations.
(Williams 1992). Meaning that it is an integrated method of educational instruction
encompassing research, communication, and teamwork altogether, in which
students can experience real-world problems/challenges to better understand and
grasp the learning material, incorporating soft skills with technical skills as well. In
this research, we would answer three main questions: Would educational
institutions use Project Based Learning strategies in Engineering?, Are Project Based
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Learning benefits greater or smaller than disadvantages?, and What are the most
important factors that influence the career choices of students?.

Would educational institutions use Project Based Learning strategies in

Engineering?
Vast research has been done in this topic but is sure but slowly being
executed at different educational institution nation- and world-wide. Transition
from traditional teaching to PBL is the biggest challenge because it takes primarily
time, to train faculty to accurately implement PBL into the classroom, and for
students to adapt to the new system. According to U.S. News, President Barack
Obama lauded Manor New Technology High School last month, holding it up as a
model for others to emulate.(Sheeky, 2013). This high school relies solely only on
project-based learning, yearly completing 65 projects with a corresponding public
presentation. Currently in the U.S., only 1% schools are project based learning
institutions. Furthermore, it is important to understand students learning styles,
which are a concept consequential from psychology. Aalborg University has been
educating engineers for over 30 years. There are four corresponding types of how
information is perceived and assimilated. 1. Sensing and intuition: sensors prefer
sight and having a physical sensation, while intuitive types are more imaginative
and prefer theories. 2. Active and reflective: active types prefer performing actions
and doing physical activities, while reflective types prefer reflection working in
teams vs working alone. 3. Visual and verbal: visual types prefer pictures, diagrams
and seeing the how, while verbal types prefer written or spoken explanations. 4.
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Sequential and global: sequential types prefer learning step-by-step, while global
types understand in greater bounds and think systematically.
Aalborg University made a study with 493 first year engineering students over the
course of one year about their learning types and here at the findings.
Strong

Moderate

Mild

Mild

Moderate

Strong

(-)

(-)

(-)

(+)

(+)

(+)

Active(-)/Reflective(+)

68

137

157

84

42

Sensitive(-)/Intuitive(+)

38

126

154

98

53

24

Visual(-)/Verbal(+)

118

197

112

55

10

70

144

177

81

16

Sequential(-)/Global(+)

TABLE. The learning styles of the 493 students divided into strong, moderate and mild
preferences. (Kolmos, 2008).

Evaluating the table, it is proven that students tend to be more active, sensitive,
visual and global learning styles.

Are Project Based Learning benefits greater or smaller than disadvantages?

From the previous research, it is fair to assume that students would benefit from
PBL because it integrates their different learning styles: active, sensitive, visual, and
global learning styles. However, teachers/professors need to be properly advised
and guided as to how to teach Project Based Learning because if it is not properly
delivered, teachers/professors might think that is too much work for them to be
implementing Project Based Learning rather than just sticking to the traditional
methods since class structure and assessment has to be re-constructed. Through
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research done at Purdue University, they concluded that for effective STEM
teaching, specifically demonstrating/modeling how to teach science and math
content via PBL methods may have led to simultaneous increases in teachers
confidence of both using PBL and for teaching STEM. (Ertmener 2014). Assuming
that teachers/professors are properly trained to deliver and track progress of their
students, students would be learning through projects. Such projects would need to
include these 8 essentials: 1. Significant content, 2. A need to know awareness of the
progress, 3. driving question, 4. Student Voice and choice, 5. 21st century
competencies, 6. In-depth inquiry, 7. Critique and revision, and 8. Public audience.
(Larmers 2010). Ultimately, incorporating more than just what needs to be learn,
but students will be learning and experiencing social and technical challenged
throughout the development of their project. According to Process competencies
they are multiple learning resources in the process of learning Project Based
Learning which include, Lectures, supervision, other teaching staff, experts,
students from other programs, other groups, companies, family, friends,
experiments, internet, library, and literature. (Du 2006). Students experiencing
Project Based Learning will be far ahead of just knowing the content of their project,
but will also need to start networking with experts in their topic and be able to
interact with peers and persons out of their comfort zone in order to successfully
accomplish their project and what is expected from them. Additionally, they can
start knowing themselves and start learning how to adapt to different learning
styles their team members might have.

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What are the most important factors that influence the career choices of
students?
It is hard to assess the most important factors that influence the career choice of
students because it greatly depends on the field that they are majoring in, however
it is predominantly determined by their first experience in the field of interest. If
they have a first good experience in the filed they think they are interested they are
more likely to stay through that career path. Otherwise, students will start looking
into other directions into trying to find what they believe is a better fit for them.
According to research done by Cal Poly State University, the freshman PBL
experience had a significant impact on students mental models regarding the types
of knowledge and skills that they believed they would need to develop in order to
become successful engineers. (Savage 25). Students crave for the knowledge in
which they could apply or integrate it into real life problems, and when students do
not get this experience through their first engineering courses, most of the times
they get discouraged into reconsidering their career paths. Engineers also have the
stereotype of being anti-social people and so called nerds for how much
understanding they know and most of the times engineering students buy into this
stereotype around them. However, through project based learning, they encounter
the fact that they have to interact with other engineering students, faculty, and even
go out of the engineering zone to find answers to their questions. Which leads to
increase importance of mastering communication and teamwork skills that will be
used inside and outside the classroom setting.

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Moreover, students want to get that experience of being able feel like real
engineers and have to solve problems systematically to their best ability. Aileen
Tapia was able to interview a Carlos Ramirez, Mechanical Engineering freshman
undertaking a Project Based Learning course and he said, At first I did not
understand why we had to work in groups in order to create a model in NX, but now
that I have worked with my group I feel that we were able to get better results by
working as a team instead of what we might had come up if we were working by
ourselves. (C. Ramirez, Personal Communication, March 15, 2015).

Through Project Based learning experiences, students can develop a visual

representation of their product, which later they can try and manufacture and be
able to implement what was learned in class and also have hands-on experience in
building the product they initially came up with.

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Carlos also explained other soft skills he has learning through project based
learning, I have learned how to sometimes work independently but also how to be
able to compromise ideas with my group in order to complete a given task working
against deadlines. (C. Ramirez, Personal Communication, March 15, 2015). Not only
students are learning about their technical objectives, but are learning how to work
in teams and a very important skill, Time management. It is important that
freshmen engineering students understand the importance and relevance of soft
skills that will help them succeed as professional engineers.
Aileen Tapia interviewed Raul Reza, freshman undergraduate student and Raul said
that, since we are not able to visually see what we are learning, I think is hard to
understand the whole concept we are supposed to learn. I ask questions but
sometimes I do not make that connection on how this is going to help me in my
future career. (R. Reza, Personal Communication, March 18, 2015). When asked
what he would do different in the class, he responded, I would actually implement
some sort of hands-on activity in order to engage in the topic and be able to
understand how it works in real life. I would like to implement what I have learned
and to actually make it happen with my hands. I want to experiment and explore
engineering to solve peoples problems. (R. Reza, Personal Communication, March
18, 2015). Raul was also asked if he felt he was learning the material and his
response was, I think I am learning but I think to do much research but I think I am
not mastering the material and that I will sooner than later forget the material
covered in class. (R. Reza, Personal Communication, March 18, 2015). Since
students are not fully understanding the material, it is more likely that they store
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what they have learned in the short-term memory rather than its long-term
memory.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that the Chinese proverb Tell me and I'll forget; show me
and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand summarizes the intent of
Project Based Learning. Anyone can tell or show something to students, but they
more than likely forget about it. If you engage them into something, in our case a
project, they will understand the dynamic of the different components of the project
because they are emerged into their project, rather than the professors class. I
have personally experienced Project Based Learning and I believe is by far the best
way to learn a topic, especially in engineering or any STEM related course. You are
able to comprehend the diverse factors that come into play in a project and are able
to interact with other students to help each other move forward towards a common
goal.

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References
Du, X., & Kolmos, A. (2006). Process competencies in a problem and project based
learning environment. In P. Andersson, & C. Borri (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th
SEFI annual conference: Engineering education and active students.
Ertmener, P.A., Schlosser, S., Clase, K., & Adedokun O. (2014). The Grand Challenge:
Helping Teachers Learn/Teach Cutting-Edge Science via a PBL Approach.
Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 8(1).
Kolmos, A., & Holgaard, J. E. (2008). Learning Styles of Science and Engineering
Students in Problem and Project Based Education. In Book of Abstracts. Sense
Publishers.
Larmers, J., & Mergendoller, J.R., (2010) 7 Essentials for Project-Based Learning.
Educational Leadership, 68(1).
Personal Interview: Carlos Ramirez.
Personal Interview: Raul Reza.
Savage, R., Chen, K., & Vanasupa, L. (n.d.). Integrating project-based learning
throughout the undergraduate engineering curriculum. IEEE Engineering
Management Review, 25-25.
Sheehy, K. (2013, June 24). Tips for Transitioning to Project-Based Learning.
Retrieved March 24, 2015, from http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/highschool-notes/2013/06/24/tips-for-transitioning-to-project-based-learning
Williams, S. M. (1992). Putting case-based instruction into context: Examples from
legal andmedical education, The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2, 367-427.

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