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Project-based learning (PBL) is an increasingly popular pedagogical method in K-12 settings. Students exposed to this approach have demonstrated higher academic performance than their peers who have not been exposed, as well as positive rates of self-efficacy and other non-academic skills. Using qualitative methods, including observation, artifact collection, interviews, and focus groups, this research explores biology students’ perceptions of their project-based learning experiences. In particular, we leverage a student focus group to understand how students perceive their learning experience. In this focus group, students perceive project-based learning as a positive influence on their agency, self-efficacy, and learning experience as a whole. Significantly, students’ accounts reveal how their positive perceptions of PBL correspond with purposefully designed elements of project-based learning. This article offers implications for teachers and educational leaders interested in how students perceive project-based learning and how they might integrate project-based learning into their classrooms.

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Mobile devices have become especially enticing to schools because of their portability, flexibility, and intuitive interfaces. A growing number of schools have begun using tablets as a cost-effective strategy in a digital learning environment. Other schools have embraced a bring your own device (BYOD) policy, which addresses pedagogical goals as well as the lack of funds many schools struggle with to support digital learning. BYOD makes digital learning easier by leveraging the devices students already have. The purpose of this study was to explore a digital learning initiative implementation in a large public school district in southwest Florida in order to provide formative feedback to guide its digital learning initiative beyond the initial implementation.