The Effect of Project-Based Learning Against Students' Engagement
The Effect of Project-Based Learning Against Students' Engagement
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Article History: This research was conducted to study the effects of project-based learning approach in terms of
Received 18th November, 2015 students' engagement in classroom of Information Communication Technology (ICTs). The study
Received in revised form involved two sets of the modules, namely project-based learning with scaffolding and existing
09th December, 2015 approaches. Both modules are used as a guide in the implementation of the project for the
Accepted 11th January, 2016 Computer Hardware topic. The study was based on a quasi-experimental approach using
Published online 29th February, 2016 nonequivalent control groups design to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching approaches on
students’ engagement. In this study, 47 students from two (2) different schools in Kerian district,
Key Words: Malaysia were recruited. They were divided into two groups, namely the treatment group (n = 27)
Project-Based Learning, and a control group (n = 20). Hypotheses were tested using the independent t test at significance
Student Engagement, level of p < .05. Procedures of Partial eta-squared and r were used to calculate the effect sizes to
Scaffolding,
measure the strengths of the relations between variables. The results indicated that there were
Quasi-Experimental.
significant differences in students’ engagement. These findings indicate that the application of
project-based learning is effective in supporting student learning in ICT in raising the level of
engagement among them.
Copyright © 2016 Faridah Salam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
other, particularly in the developing and designing a quality the approaches that enable students who are learning at all
product. Through collaborative activities may encourage levels to engage in learning activities actively (Baran and
students to interact with each other to form a consensus in Mak, 2010). In fact, with the project approach, students can
decision-making (Anghileri, 2006). Teachers also need to help improve their attitudes level toward learning (Thomas, 2000).
and support student learning by providing various forms of However, according to Barron et al. (1998), it is difficult to
scaffolding (Anghileri, 2006; Chang and Sun, 2009; Henning, maintain student engagement during implementation of the
Verhaegh, and Resing, 2011; Zhang, 2011). The emphasis on project.
student-centered learning activities is to build the student
knowledge with the help of social interaction with teachers Objective
and peers which is exists only in a constructivist learning
environment (Wang, 2008). Among the learning approaches The main focus of this study is to investigate the effect of the
that based on constructivist theory of social development is PjBL approach on students’ engagement while conducting the
PjBL approach. Therefore, PjBL approach is expected to add project.
value to existing approaches and make it as one of the
alternative approach (Chinowsky, Brown, Szajman, and Hypothesis
Realph, 2006) in a classroom environment. PjBL is considered
a good platform to foster the skills of meaningful learning and Mean of student engagement among treatment groups that
a high order thinking (Acar, 2013; Blumenfeld et al. 1991; using PjBL with scaffolding and control groups that using an
Marx, Blumenfeld, Krajcik, and Soloway, 1997). PjBL is existing approach is the same.
characterized by social constructivism which states that
collaborative learning allows students to learn from each other, MATERIALS AND METHODS
built the right knowledge, and meant. (Robinson, 2013; Wang,
2008). Study Design
and the control group. The goal is to determine whether there Based on Table 4, it was found that the level of significance of
are significant differences between the scores before and after Levene test is .60, while the value is greater than.05.The
treatment by an appropriate statistical test. output shows that there are differences between the two groups
in terms of the engagement level (t (45) =-2.10; p=.04). Due to
RESULTS the probability of obtaining the observed sample results if the
null hypothesis is true.04 then, the null hypothesis is rejected.
The hypothesis of the mean difference for a variable of the two The findings were statistically significant. Therefore, it is
populations (treatment group and the control group) is the concluded that the level of student engagement among
independent t test. Table 2 shows that the distribution of the treatment and control group is different. The difference
data is normal to the Shapiro-Wilk test, p>.05. This test is two- between the mean value is d = -.63 and the effect size of r =
tailed because of differences in the sample in any direction .30. Further, Cohen’s effect size value (d =.63) suggested a
will reject the null hypothesis. Based on Table 3, the results moderate to high practical significance.
showed that there was no significant difference in the mean
(M) score with a standard deviation (SD) of the students in the DISCUSSION
experimental group with students in the control group.
The results show that there are differences in the level of
Table 1.Coefficient of reliability engagement between students in the treatment group and a
control group. The study showed that the Pj BL approach has
Location Sample Size Alfa Cronbach (α) value related to positive learning outcomes (Fredricks et al., 2004).
School A 27 .869 Pj BL also a teaching approach that foster students to
School B 18 .854 participate actively in the process of learning (Jody, 2012;
School C 15 .821 Chu, Minasian, and Xiaoke, 2012; Chun-Ming, Gwo-Jen, and
Wen, 2012; Fernandes et al., 2014; Verma et al., 2011).
Table 2. Normality test Hardjito (2010), found that the scaffolding is a suitable
practice to engage students in their learning. He also found
Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk
that each student participate actively in the learning process
Statistic df p Statistic df P
because they do not just listen passively, but engage in
.073 47 .200* .974 47 .368
different activities (Hardjito, 2010), like discussion, planning,
gain information, and the process to produce the project
Table 3. Independent Sample t Test Before Treatment
(Aiedah and Audrey, 2012). Apparently, the intervention
conducted on PjBL approach, which systematically integrates
Teaching Approach N Mean (SD) t Sig.
PjBL with Scaffolding 27 162.52(14.836) -9.00 .373
a scaffolding as a teaching strategy has an impact on the level
Existing PjBL 20 171.00(11.987) of engagement of ICT within the experimental group. The
Total 47 findings of previous studies have shown that the PjBL
p>.05 approach (Filippatou and Kaldi, 2011;Yamand Rossini, 2010)
Table 4. Independent Sample t Test After Treatment
and the implementation of scaffolding in the learning process
(Lu et al., 2010; Lutzetal., 2006; Rymaz and McLarney, 2011;
Equal Variances Assumed Schweiter, 2010; Simons and Klein, 2006) have the potential
Levene Test: to raise the level of student engagement. To be successful in
F .286 planning, teachers need to have knowledge and skills about the
Sig. .596 process of implementation of the PjBL and how to integrate
t test:
t -2.098 the scaffolding as a teaching strategy. They also need to
df 45 encourage the students who prefer to work in a traditional
Sig. (2-tailed) .042 learning environment that only involve very little effort
Mean Difference -8.481 (Fredricks et al., 2004), for greater efforts to complete the
Std. Error difference 4.043
95% CI: assignment by participating actively (Aiedah and Audrey,
Lower Limit -16.625 2012). Teachers also need to encourage all students to be
Upper Limit -.338 equally involved in project learning activities (BTPN, 2007).
Note. CI= Confidence Interval A clear explanation of the process of implementation,
objectives and benefits of the project work was able to
The mean score for students in the pretest in the experimental overcome the problems of students with less attention and
group and the control group was (M = 167.70, SD = 10.89) cooperation in the group (BTPN, 2007).
and (M = 170.70, SD = 11.79), t = -9.00 p> .05, respectively.
Therefore, fail to reject the null hypothesis and can be Conclusion
concluded that there was no significant difference in the
degree of engagement of the two groups before treatment. This In conclusion, PjBL is still in the development stage, but there
finding further suggests that students in both groups were is no research or empirical data that can be said that the PjBL
homogeneous in terms of their level of previous engagement. as an alternative approach compared to other learning
Table 3 also shows that the mean reported for the treatment approach. Based on information obtained in recent years, it is
group and the control group was 162.52 and 171.00, clear PjBL can be an effective approach to improving the level
respectively. Research hypothesis states that the two groups of student engagement. Therefore, it can be concluded that an
have different mean. It is true based on the output displayed. effective approach to learn knowledge and skills is to apply
6894 Faridah Salam et al. The effect of project-based learning against students’ engagement
the scaffolding as a teaching strategy in PjBL approach in Students towards Physics. Gazi University Journal Of
promoting the learning environment. Gazi Educational Faculty (GUJGEF), 32(1), 185-203.
Cook, T.D. and Campbell, D. T 1979. Quasi-experimentation:
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