The Impact of a Problem-based Learning Launcher Unit on Eighth Grade Students’ Motivation and Interest in Science

Abstract

is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech. Fasse studies the efficacy and value of student-centered learning initiatives, specifically problem-based and project-based learning, in classrooms, instructional labs, and undergraduate research experiences. She joined the BME faculty in 2007, following 10 years in Georgia Tech's College of Computing where she was a member of the NSF-funded Learning By Design problem-based learning curriculum development and research project. She also conducted an NSF-funded ethnographic study of learning in a problem-driven, project-based bio-robotics research lab at Georgia Tech. In addition to her duties in BME, she is a member of the interdisciplinary research team conducting the Science Learning: Integrating Design, Engineering, and Robotics (SLIDER) project.

Understanding design-based learning context and the associated emotional experience

“…In the field of DBL, there has been increasing attention placed on studying or measuring emotion as a part of the evaluation of DBL activities (Barak and Doppelt 1999;Hendricks and Fasse 2012;Neve and Keith-Marsoun 2017;Reynolds et al 2009;Tisza et al 2019;Zhang et al 2018). This body of emotion research in the DBL field often treats emotions as an independent outcome indicator for the students' experience of a DBL intervention, becoming separated from the holistic multi-faceted nature of the emotional experience itself.…”

“…In this way, students experience and acquire the concept and knowledge presented in the design project. Related research has provided ample evidence of the potential benefits of DBL: gain in self-confidence (Hendricks and Fasse 2012), become more tolerant of errors (Martin 2015), and increase students' interest in the subject topic (Reynolds et al 2009). Consequently, DBL as a learning approach is attracting increasing attention by relevant communities, e.g., for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education (Apedoe and Schunn 2013;Davis 1998;Doppelt et al 2008;Fortus et al 2004;Kolodner et al 2001;Mehalik et al 2008;Nelson 2004) and design education (Davis et al 1997).…”

“…However, research on young students' emotions in DBL has so far been coarse-grained (Zhang et al 2020). For example, emotion research in DBL may pertain to how students evaluate their interest in the subjects covered (Hendricks and Fasse 2012;Karahoca et al 2011), or their willingness to participate in similar DBL activities in the future (Buechley et al 2008;Giannakos et al 2014). Existing research seems not yet to provide a fine-grained consideration of how emotions are associated with specific DBL activities.…”