Teacher Perspectives on Implementing Project-Based Learning in a Regressive Educational Climate

• In Event: Remaining Critical in the Midst of (Neo)Colonial Censorship

Abstract

Purpose:
This study explores teachers’ perspectives on implementing critical-PBL to foster adolescents’ academic engagement and sociopolitical development within an educational system that constrains critical teaching practices. The study addresses the questions: 1) What opportunities and challenges do teachers experience with implementing critical-PBL in the classroom? 2) What forms of support do teachers name as important for successfully carrying out critical-PBL?

Theoretical Framework:
Critical-PBL is a pedagogical approach that can promote adolescents’ sociopolitical and identity development as well as academic engagement and achievement (Luter et al., 2017) through centering student agency and collaboration to address issues that are authentic to adolescents’ identities and communities. To implement critical-PBL, teachers should incorporate culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy (CRRP) (Caires-Hurley et al., 2020). While extant research provides insights into teachers’ experiences with PBL generally (e.g. Martelli & Watson, 2016), there is a dearth of research addressing teachers’ perspectives on implementing critical-PBL, especially in education systems that attempt to censor such practices. This study is guided by the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) and culturally responsive teaching (Gay, 2002).
Methods and Data Sources:
We conducted the current study in the context of an ongoing research-practice partnership with a public charter high school in the southeastern United States serving a racially and socioeconomically diverse student body. Despite operating in a state that censors and constrains critical teaching practices, the school recently implemented a school-wide project-planning protocol prioritizing student identity, agency, and action taking within their community. Five teachers and two teacher-administrators participated in recorded focus group interviews that were transcribed. We recruited participants based on their interest in strengthening their ability to implement critical-PBL. Thematic analysis was used to analyze focus group transcripts. In addition to focus group transcripts, we analyzed documents developed by the school to support PBL to provide context.

Results:
Preliminary results suggest that teachers view critical-PBL as an opportunity to foster deeper levels of academic engagement and community orientation among adolescents. Teachers also see it as an opportunity to create a sense of joy and belonging. While teachers value criticality, they struggle with integrating critical-PBL in an education system misaligned with both PBL and CRRP. Specifically, they experience tension regarding engaging in critical-PBL while also addressing state learning standards and differentiating for students’learning needs and levels of criticality while keeping all students engaged. Teachers experience stress around carrying out critical-PBL within a state that is antagonistic toward addressing issues of identity and power in schools. They would benefit from access to more models of successful critical-PBL carried out in schools.

Significance:
The current study contributes to the field of education research by providing insights into the ways in which in-service teachers understand and navigate the convergence of implementing PBLand CRRP in an educational climate that is antagonistic toward these pursuits. Findings can contribute to ongoing support of in-service teachers within the specific school context and guide future research on ways to support teachers in adapting critical-PBL, especially in political environments that attempt to constrain such teaching practices.

Authors

• Hilary Simpson, University of Michigan

• Kat McRitchie, University of Michigan