Using Project-Based Learning to Promote Equitable Practices and Social Justice in Elementary Schools

• In Event: How Can Elementary Science Curriculum Support Student Learning, Teacher Practices, and Inclusiveness in Classrooms?

Abstract

Objectives
This paper describes ESES’s systematic approach to promoting deep learning and social and emotional learning, how the team has refined its approach to center equity and social justice, ultimately, in 2021- 22, leading to a design where teachers productively adapt ESES to meet these goals. The 20 teachers had familiarity enacting ESES for multiple years. Following the pandemic, this study accounts for the dual responsibility teachers had of attending to urgent areas for growth such as students’ literacy and social development, while maintaining ESES project-based science program.
The team created opportunities for teachers to focus on the affordances of features of PBL (artifact development, meaningful driving question, collaboration) and elements of the teacher and student-facing materials (informal, formal assessment, discourse supports, performance-based equity, SEL goals, contexts that support flexible thinking). Adaptations of materials can benefit student learning of SEL and science (Authors, 2021) but they must be principled (Potvin, et al, 2017). This study presents an approach to designing learning environments that can endure unexpected developments and still lead to optimal student learning and teacher ongoing reflection.
Theoretical Framework
ESES builds on theories related to project-based learning (Author & Other, 2014), social justice and equity constructivist theories (Nasir et, al., 2021), and emerging research about tailored responses that teachers bring to planned and in-the-moment adaptations for context (Ko, & Krist, 2019).
Methods and Data Sources
Methods for the research study include qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. This year-long study builds on previous work in which students demonstrated growth in science learning and SEL development.
We collected data from two groups: a focus group (7 teachers, 10 sections, 182 students) and a large group (11 teachers, 20 sections, 361 students). The focus group involved biweekly video observations and structured field notes about student engagement and teacher adaptations of PBL features, and teacher semi-structured interviews (N=27). Both groups made use of professional learning that stressed adaptation principles. The sessions were videotaped. All teachers submitted SEL student surveys (N=4,221) and unit assessments (N=796).
Interviews, observations, and field notes employed thematic and grounded coding methods (Saldaña, 2021). Analysis of student surveys and assessments used factor analysis, a three-level HLM, and a measurement model and structural equation model (SEM) respectively (Authors, in press).
Results
Preliminary results show that PBL design that integrates teacher-facing materials, aligned assessments, and professional learning for teacher adaptation as part of the systems approach can support teachers to address changing students’ needs and contexts. Preliminary results show that this systems design supported students in deepening science learning and SEL, despite distanced learning and shortened science hours during 20-21. Teachers made adaptations in structures, lesson sequencing, questions, and responding to students needs that supported equitable learning opportunities.
Significance
This study addresses questions about how to support teachers in adapting curriculum developed for wide audiences to achieve optimal learning. We add to research that shows that teachers are capable of enacting and adapting high quality curriculum for creating equity-oriented environments with overall growth in student learning.

Authors

• Emily Adah Miller, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Susan Codere, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joseph S. Krajcik, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author