A Study of Project-Based Education and Real World Application in Mathematics

Date of Graduation

Summer 2006

Degree

Master of Science in Education in Secondary Education in Mathematics

Department

Mathematics

Committee Chair

Linda Plymate

Abstract

Project-based learning is a method of teaching that is focused in real world application and problem solving. An action research study was conducted in a rural southwest Missouri school. The study was conducted in two different Algebra I mathematics classes. Both classes were taught using a project-based learning curriculum. The improvement of students' first semester problem solving abilities to those after the project based chapters was found to be statistically significant. Also, the overall improvement and the problem solving improvement between high, medium, and low ability-level students were found to be statistically significantly different. And the problem solving and overall improvement for males compared to females' was not found to be statistically significant. One class participated in a pilot study and their overall improvement and their problem solving improvement was compared to that of the class who did not participate in the pilot. This comparison was not found to be statistically significant.

Keywords

project-based, problem solving, mathematics, Algebra I, application

Subject Categories

Science and Mathematics Education

Copyright

© Sarah Garrison

Citation-only

Dissertation/Thesis

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