Technology Integration in Project-Based Learning

• In Event: Teacher Change of Practice Across Contexts: Case Studies of Large-Scale Project-Based Science Curriculum Enactment

Abstract

Objectives. This study examines affordances and limitations of technology integration in the context of a third grade project-based learning (PBL) unit that focuses on force and motion. More specifically, it asks:

1) How does a classroom teacher support students to engage in scientific sensemaking while working with technology during PBL?

2) What are the affordances and limitations of the technology as a tool to promote sensemaking within the context of PBL?

Theoretical framework. This study draws on the conceptual framework of social constructivism, which highlights the important role played by social interactions in learning (Palincsar, 1998). Additionally, this study examines the potential of technology to support educational equity by helping close the “Digital Use Divide,” wherein students at under-resourced schools are less likely to have opportunities to use technology in ways that foreground student sensemaking, as compared to students at more affluent schools (US Department of Education, 2016) . This study draws from research that identifies specific ways technology can support the sensemaking-rich goals of PBL, such as: (a) supporting student interest in scientific concepts, (b) supporting student access to relevant conceptual information, and (c) supporting students to create artifacts that showcase their learning (Blumenfeld et al., 1991; Condliffe et al, 2017).

Methods. This study is a qualitative case study triangulating multiple sources of information.

Data sources. Data sources include: (a) classroom video and transcript of classroom video, (b) observational field notes (c) student work, and (d) interviews with the classroom teacher.

Results. Students in a third-grade classroom at an under-resourced school engaged in sensemaking while working with a suite of tools matched with the conceptual goals of the curriculum. These included: (a) an online app supporting students to animate conceptual models, (b) a website providing access to conceptually-relevant multimodal texts, and (c) an online simulation that provided students with an opportunity to conduct virtual investigations focused on concepts of force and motion.

Sensemaking opportunities with technology were supported by teacher mediation. Teachers
supported students to: (a) share their understanding of science concepts by constructing animated models, (b) revise their animated models based on peer feedback, (c) use multi-modal texts to inform hands-on investigations, (d) plan investigations and control variables while using a simulation, and (e) consider the potential constraints of simulations as models.

Limitations of the ability of the technology to support sensemaking stemmed from both (a)
limitations of individual technological tools, and (b) limitations related to classroom infrastructure (e.g. internet connectivity problems.)

Significance. This study suggests that, although technology can address the digital use divide by powerfully supporting student sensemaking within the context of PBL, it is not without its challenges. More research is needed to examine how teachers, researchers, and curriculum designers can leverage technology in support of meaningful sensemaking in the context of PBL.

Authors

• Kathleen M Easley, The Learning Partnership

• Annemarie S. Palincsar, University of Michigan