Abstract
In this research, an experimental study was carried out in social studies 4th grade students’ to develop students’ conceptual achievement and motivation to succeed academically. The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) in social studies. A quasi-experimental research design (pre-and posttest) was used in the research. While the experimental group of students received an interactive social studies instruction including completely PBL in a team format activities, the control group students received an instruction including direct instruction method (whole class teaching and individual work in the worksheet of the topics) in the fourth 4th grade social studies curriculum for six weeks. The findings indicated a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group on the concept achievement and motivation. Students who participated in the PBL environments not only enriched and expanded their knowledge but also achieved a higher level of motivation than the control group. The PBL in a team format activities were provided to promote the experimental group students’ motivation to succeed academically and to develop their conceptual achievement. The results demonstrated that the PBL improved students’ understanding regarding social studies concepts and helped them achieve the behaviours which were aimed academically. The experimental group’s intended behaviours in academic motivation at the beginning of the experimental treatment turned into performed behaviours at the end. Key words: Project-based learning, social studies teaching, academic motivation, student achievement.
Highlights
Today the traditional skills of reading, writing and listening are necessary in learning and teaching activities, but they are not sufficient for young citizens in order to participate in community actively or even survive in the real-world.the following goals for elementary school education have been identified to help children accomplish what the other subjects and courses cannot help them achieve or motivate positively
The results showed that there were significant interaction effects between the project-based learning activities and direct instruction methods based on textbook worksheets in social studies in favor of the experimental group
Project-based learning activities concerning with conceptual achievement performed significantly better than the methods used in the control group
Summary
Today the traditional skills of reading, writing and listening are necessary in learning and teaching activities, but they are not sufficient for young citizens in order to participate in community actively or even survive in the real-world.the following goals for elementary school education have been identified to help children accomplish what the other subjects and courses cannot help them achieve or motivate positively. Students improve their values of citizenship, inquiry, problem-solving, critical thinking and decision making skills on critical social issues (Barth, 1993; NCSS, 1994; Wade, 2007; Maxim, 2010) In this sense, since authentic instruction contains many different disciplines, methods and techniques, it is suggested to be used in teaching social studies because different instructional practices are known to have different outcomes on students’ motivation and engagement in active learning (Grolnick and Ryan, 1987; Patrick et al, 1993; Cordova and Lepper, 1996; Assor et al, 2005)
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