Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Berenise Vargas
April 22, 2017
University of Redlands
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support.
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
Abstract
This research paper analyzes the effects of project based learning in high school mathematics.
The literature review provides examples of successful outcomes in the classroom that have
implemented Project/Problem Based Learning (PBL). The studies indicate that students with a
PBL curriculum outperformed those students with a regular textual curriculum. It also contains
some obstacles teachers can have when planning to implement project based learning in their
lesson. We will use the solutions suggested in the literature review if we come across some of the
obstacles during the study. The study examined in this paper, shows students who are able to
connect their learning with problems from outside the classroom comprehend the material in
more depth. They used in the study was divided into two parts. The results showed that the
students who were able to make connections from the real world to the project performed higher
in the unit test. Project based learning had successful results in the study.
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
Table of Contents
Introduction .
Background .....
Context
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Literature Review ..
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Study Design..
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
Participants
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Setting ...
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Planned Activity
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Observations ..
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Discussion of Results.
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Reflection ..
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New insights ..
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Changes .
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Impact on EL Students .
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
22
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Limitations
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Conclusion .
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Appendices .
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Appendix A.
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Appendix B ..
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References .
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
Introduction
Different teaching strategies are frequently implemented into classrooms to enhance the
learning of students. Every generation undergoes different changes in their community and
education has to adapt. In this paper the strategy at study will be Project Based Learning. We
will analyze its impact in mathematics for secondary teaching. Project Based Learning (PBL) is a
teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period
of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem, or
challenge.
Due to lack of interest and inability of students making connections from what they learn
in the classroom and how to apply it in the real world; Project Based Learning can help facilitate
this dilemma. Project based learning provides an opportunity for students to create and explore
while they learn. The activities are created to help them succeed inside and outside the classroom
environment. It challenges and encourages students to research and gain more knowledge on
what interests the student and being taught in class. It allows the teacher to give the students an
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
opportunity to demonstrate what they know and facilitate their learning instead of standing in
The PBL activity shown in this study will have the students find the area and perimeter
of the blueprints of the house using what they learned from polynomials. They will then graph
the area and apply what they learned to a real life scenario. For example, finding the area of
rooms in their house or school. Students will take a pre and post assessment to measure the
impact of the project. The project will be completed in groups, however both assessments will
be completed individually. In this study it is hypothesized that Project Based Learning will
Background
Description of Contexts
The research for this study was conducted at Rialto High School in Rialto Unified School
District. The school is located in San Bernardino County, city of Rialto, California. The city has
a population of 101,910. In 1907 the first Christian church was founded. It is the oldest building
schools and 2 continuation schools. It was founded in 1891. This year Rialto Unified School
District was awarded the Bronze award for Excellence in Positive Behavior Intervention and
Support (PBIS) at five schools.In addition, one of the programs offered in the district is Dual
Immersion program; four elementary schools have the program to help English learners. Rialto
High School was established in September 1992. It has an enrollment of 2,739 with a 28:1
teacher student ratio. The ethnicity distribution is at follows 88% Hispanic, 6% African
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
American, 2.5% White, 1.3% Asian, 0.9% Filipino, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 0.4% more than 2
ethnicities. Having the majority of students being hispanic, Rialto High School has the following
English Proficient distribution: 36.6% Only English, 5.3% Initial Fluent English, 18.4% English
Learner, 39.6 % Reclassified fluent English Proficient. It is classified as a high poverty school
with 69 % of students on free lunch and about 10% on reduced lunch. From the previous results
The schools mission is to provided a safe and supportive learning environment for
success and lifelong learners who have the ability to adapt to a diverse and changing world.
Rialto High school has a graduation rate of 87% to 91.9%. Some of the programs at Rialto High
The study will be conducted in a Math 3 class. This class is formed by Sophomores and
Juniors. There are three English learners with proficiency level 3 and 4. The class is made up of
The assumptions made for this study are that students would work together efficiently as
they have previously worked in groups. They would have some difficulty with the project, but
The instructions were clear and students know what it's is expected of them. If they need
help they should first ask their peers and then the teacher. It is believed that students will enjoy
the project and have enough time provided in class to complete it.
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
I have been observing this class for the last 6 months. The students are engaged in the
lesson the first 35 minutes of class. During this time they remain focus answering questions and
taking notes. After 35 minutes a few being to drift away and quietly work on something besides
the classwork. There are no behavior issues or major distraction during class time. The only
common distractions are when a student sent from another class or if there is a phone call from
the office. The students are frequently allowed to work with a partner. Having them perform the
Majority of the class are visual and kinesthetic learners. There are three students that are
auditory and analytical learners. Two of these students enjoy working in small projects. One
student prefers to complete worksheet. Half of the students said they would like to see how the
content they are learning is being applied to the real world. They had difficulty making the
connection. One fourth of the class said that Mathematics was their least favorite subject.
The Pretest was an online assessment in ALEKS. The assessment consisted of adding,
multiplying and dividing polynomials. The results of the pretest had average of 66% correct
The research question for this study is: Does Project Based Learning Strategies help
The approach for the study will be having students work in groups on a Polynomial house
Project. The project will have three part to allow for feedback and corrections on the project.
During the first part, students will find the area and perimeter of the house blueprints. In the
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
second part, students will graph the area of each room. In the third part, students will use their
The purpose of this study to show that PBL can help students comprehend the material by
making connections to real life scenarios. Hopeful that their depth of understanding will help
Impact on EL Students
Dividing the project into two parts benefits all the students, but especially English
Language Learners. It will allow them to receive feedback and make corrections in their project
before moving forward and obtaining the wrong area. Allowing the students to work in groups
allows English Language learners as well as students with learning disabilities to receive help
from a peer. Some of this students are too shy to ask questions out loud, but are comfortable
In additions, the blueprints allow students to have a visual they can refer to and make
connections. The graphic organizer will allow for simpler transitions from the area of each room
to the graph.
Terms Defined
Graphic organizer - is a visual display that demonstrates relationships between facts, concepts or
ideas.
Quadratic - involving the second and no higher power of an unknown quantity or variable.
Perimeter - the continuous line forming the boundary of a closed geometric figure.
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
Polynomial function - quadratic, a cubic, a quartic, and so on, involving only non-negative
integer powers of x.
Project based learning - is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by
working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and
and last
Literature Review
Educators are constantly searching for new teaching strategies that will help their
students succeed not only in the classroom, but outside in the real world. The strategy we will
discuss in this literature review is Project Based Learning (PBL). In the following articles we
examine the impact PBL is having in the classrooms. The first article will review is, The Impact
of Project - Based Learning on Minority Student Achievement: Implications for School Redesign.
A school district in South Texas redesigned a PBL middle school for a year and then compared
the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) mathematics to another school
and to the test scores from the previous year. It was hypothesized that PBL would promote
diversity and increase the choice of middle schoolers to engage investigating solutions to
problems. PBL can allow prepare students about conflicts outside of the classroom; to help
contribute their learning into society. Study was conducted with seventh and eighth graders. The
results for grade seven showed that the difference between the groups was statistically significant
favoring the PBL group in both reading and mathematics. The results for those in grade eight
also showed centroids statistically significant favoring the PBL group. Both grades seven and
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
eight in a PBL classroom outperformed the seventh and eighth graders that were not in a
redesigned PBL classroom. Cervantes hypothesis was correct, students became more engaged
Koparan and Guven performed a similar study in a Statistics course but not only
measured performance, but also on how the students change their attitudes. In the article The
Effects on the 8th Grade Students Attitude towards Statistics of Project Based Learning. The
study was conducted in 70 eighth grade students in two different classes middle schools. During
the project one of the eighth grade classes implemented PBL by having the students work in
groups and create their own research that would be presented to the class. The project had
relation to real word problems to allow students to take their knowledge outside the classroom.
Similar to Cervantes study, they wanted students to make connection, to the world outside the
classroom. The test showed that the students that were in the PBL classroom improved their
attitude from .51 to 1.02 logits. The pretest had showed no significant difference between the
experimental group and the control group in terms of attitude towards statistics ( Koparan,
2014). However, the study showed that the attitude towards statistics increased with PBL as
opposed to the classroom that learned from just text books that showed no significant change in
attitude. The change in attitude shows that students enjoy learning when they are giving more
time to complete an assignment because they are able to understand the knowledge at a much
deeper level and construct research on their interest of choice. (Hung, 2016)
The third article we will review is, The effect of project based learning in ratio,
proportion and percentage unit on mathematics success and attitude. Ozdemir takes a similar
approach as Koparan, however, Ozdemir creates groups and allows them to choose a team
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
leader. The team leader will help the group stay on task. The researcher taught both of the
classes, control and experimental group. The PBL class worked on projects and presented them
at the end of the unit. The results showed that there was a significant difference in favor of the
experimental group towards attitude mathematical. Based on the results we can concluded that
the students enjoyed working in groups. However, the self evaluation form showed that some
students found the project boring as other found it challenging. One of problems that arises when
students work in group is that not everyone completes the same amount of work. This was
something the students noticed and mentioned as a conflict of working in groups. Although, the
tests showed the attitude toward mathematics increased with groups activity, there are a few
students that did not enjoy working in groups. Allowing the students to chose the project they
want to accomplish could allow those students who drift off from the group to engage in the
group's activities, find something of their interest to research as Cervantes did in his study.
Dr. Remijan teaching strategies are a perfect example of project based learning. In
Students he did not conduct a study but instead explained the different Problem/Project Based
learning activities that he has successfully implemented in his geometry classroom. The students
receive a problem and then slowly convert it into a project until the students are designing
blueprints and presenting them to class/staff. During this process they research, receive feedback
from staff and professional architectures. It has allowed students to work with professionals
which motivates the students learning. In the previous articles the students received feedback
from the teacher but, having feedback from an outside source creates a connection to the world
outside the classroom. The students projects are always being improved as they discover and
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
perform more calculations. Having a hybrid problem and project has allowed his students to
learn and see how it can be applied to the world around them. For PBL to be adequately
implemented teachers must be willing to create a learning environment that connects students to
the larger community, provides them with purpose,engages them in mathematics, and encourages
From the previous articles we have recognized that Problem Based Learning has had a
positive impact in the classroom. A fundamental element for PBL to be successful is for the
teacher to construct the proper question. Woei Hung gives us key ideas in, All PBL Starts Here:
The Problem, that should be used while constructing the problem/question. One of the models is
3C3R model is composed of core and processing components. Identifying the contextual
knowledge of the students. How this knowledge will be reflected when solving the PBL problem.
The model Hung introduces us to is the 9-step PBL Designing process. The model consist of
having a goal that has to be reached by the problem, have a reflection and analyze all the
components. The problem should challenge the student but allow the student to analyze and
solve the problem. Although PBL allows students to solve problems from the outside world, its
necessary to set boundaries to reduce the chance for the students to take the path that is not part
of the intended learning objectives (Hung, 2016). These boundaries are made when constructing
the PBL problem. This is why having to the proper questions is important to have successful
Although PBL has allowed for students to gain interest in learning and making
connection to real world problems some teachers may have difficulty with this teaching strategy.
Baysura study allows us to see some of the disadvantages teachers have with PBL. The teachers
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
most common difficulties were: students getting off topic, time - consuming, costly, students
not informed about research, and not being equipped with the skills and knowledge to manage
PBL (Baysura,18). Many of those obstacles teachers are having can be resolved with proper
training. In the training teachers can learn that not all PBL are costly it depends on what the
teacher wants to have the students create or research. All teaching strategies will have
complication. We as educators need to find the best strategy for our students.
Study Design
Participants
The participants of the study are 24 students from a Math 3 class. There are 10 male and
14 female The class has sophomore and juniors. There are three English Learner.
Setting
The study will take place in the students Mathematics classroom at Rialto High School
during 5th period. The classroom is set up in rows of two. This allows students to work together
without creating disruptions by having to move desk around. There is a whiteboard in two walls
of the room that students can use. They also have access to the computers at least twice a week.
Planned activity
The activity we will use for this study is called the Polynomial House Project. The
students will be provided with a packet that contains instructions for the 3 parts of the study, 3
graphic organizers to input data, and blueprints of a house. (Appendix A) They will be asked to
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
multiplication and division of polynomials. Students first attempt to find the area and perimeter
During part one of the study the students will record the area and perimeter answers in
the Polynomial Project Answer Sheet. Once it is completed the students will have their answers
checked and make any the corrections if needed. They may correct their work as many time as
they need. All correct answers will be recorded in Polynomial Project Answer sheet (Correct)
They may continue to part two only after they have obtained all the correct answers for
part one. During part two, students will be asked to graph the polynomial expression that were
obtained when they found the area of each room. They may use graphic organizer Part 2:
Polynomial project answer sheet to input the area of each room. For this part they may use
Desmos a graphing app or use a graphing calculator. They have to take a screenshot of the graph
and print it out. Students then have to glue each polynomial function graph into the house
blueprints and identify the zeros of the graph. Zeros are where the graph crosses the x-axis.
For part 3, students will use what they learn to apply it in the real world. They are giving
two choices where there can apply their knowledge. They can choose a room in their house and
find the perimeter and area of the room to know how much paint they need to paint the whole
room. The second option is having the students find the new perimeter and area of their new
room to find how much area they need to cover with carpet or wood flooring.
Observations
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
After the pretest, students were given 2 days to work on their projects and make
corrections. The third day the teacher continued with their lesson on synthetic division. Synthetic
division it is a method of polynomial division.Towards the end of the period the teacher
explained to the class the instructions for part 2. The teacher also informed them that they would
be allowed to work on their project for the last 15 minutes of class for the following week. She
gave them a deadline to complete part 1 of the project which was a week after the project was
assigned to the students. Some of the students obtained the correct answer after the first
corrections, others took longer. The students had access to the computers three days during this
week.
During the second week the students were allowed to work on their project tuesday for
the whole period. The rest of the days they were given the last 10 minutes of class. During the
last 10 minutes students used their time efficiently. Some began printing their graphs on
Tuesday. Other groups were just beginning to graph. On Thursday, there were some students
beginning to glue their graphs into the house blueprints. At first, the students had difficulty
graphing the graphs but after the third graph they were able to work with Desmos with no
problem.
During the third week, students were beginning to do part 3 of the project. Others were
printing graphs. The students were given the upcoming Monday as a deadline to the project.
They would have Friday to work on the project the whole period. One of the groups was falling
behind because they were not used to working on project and began to complain about common
core. Projects in Mathematics was not something he who was familiar with. That is one of the
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
The method of data collection for this study was from interviews and assessment scores.
The assessment was given a day after the projects were due. The post assessment scores were
compared to the average pretest scores. The tests were not identical but very similar. They both
contained addition, multiplication and division which were the skills used during the project.
Identifying the mistakes that were made in the pretest and recognizing if they had made them for
the post test. Interviews will allow to identify how the students felt about the study and how the
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
Average = 95+88+65+81+73+92
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= 82.3%
obtaining correct.
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
This question was a division of three polynomial terms. Division was only covered in the project
for two rooms. Question 3 and 8 were the multiplication of polynomials of two and three terms.
This was used to find the area of most of the rooms and it has the lowest missing rate. The
practice and connections students were able to make during the project allowed them to have a
higher success rate in the assessments. With a 16.3% average increase from the pretest score we
can recognize that Project Based learning was successful in helping to increase assessments
scores.
From the table above we can recognize that the majority of the students enjoyed the project and
would like to have a similar PBL activity in future lessons. We can also identify that those who
did not enjoy the project were not able to benefit from it because of lack on interest. They did
not notice any help in understanding if polynomials, or were not sure if it did help. The majority
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
of the groups worked efficiently and make their project and comprehension of polynomials a
successful outcome.
In addition to the questions in the table above, we asked the students to share their
opinion on how the project could be improved, and if they had anything they would like to share
Student A: I liked that it was divided into parts. It made it easier to make corrections
Student E: I don't like projects, but it did help me understand polynomials better.
Student C: I rather do worksheet. I dont see the point of projects. They are too much
work.
Students H: I like projects that help you relate to the real world. Dont get me wrong it
is cool to learn math, but sometimes I wonder when will I use it, like the
trig functions.
As we can see some students need to make connections to be interested in what they are learning.
Students C is one of those students that we need to allow them to find something they find
interesting and have then incorporate it into mathematics to help them make connections and
spark their interest. Student E is an example that connections help gain understanding of a new
concepts being taught. The improvement the students would make to the project are the
following:
Student M: You should have an example of the end product. I wasnt sure where to glue
the graphs.
Student B: Make it more like a real life problem, like part 3 on the project.
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
We can identify that students want to make connections. We can accomplish that through PBL
activities.
Overall The Polynomial House Project was successful by helping increase the student's
assessment scores. Students would like to see similar projects being incorporated to their lessons
to help them make connections of the content learned in class and how it can be applied in the
real world.
Discussion of results
The study showed that Project Based Learning in High School Mathematic can help
improve the assessments scores of the students. The intervention in this study was to facilitate
during a project and help students make connections between mathematics and the real world.
After completing the projects students shared that they enjoyed working on activities that they
can use their knowledge on such as part 3 of the project. PBL allows us to do that in every
lesson.
Reflections
The study has given us a project that is not costly. Projects can be broken down to help
facilitate the work for the students and also for the teacher to know what the students are having
difficulty understanding. Projects do take time, but the time is compensated when the students
truly comprehend the material. If teachers take some time to slow down and make connections
students will be able to understand more. Mathematical content build up from one another and if
they don't understand a concept they will have difficulty with the new one. Making connections
helps students comprehend better and prevents from falling behind in the lesson.
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
The study gave me new insights into doing the project as they are learning the
unit to facilitate students into making connection. Consider having students create a project
themselves. As well as incorporation classroom discussion toward the end of the period to be
Changes
Incorporating a survey on the opinions of groups project as part of the pre - assessment to
identify any change in opinions after the study would allow to see impact of the project had on
each student. I would add an extra day of work time in class. Also, changing the blueprint to a
building that the students may have interest in. If I want to incorporate graphing skills the area
can be provided and the screen shots of the graph can be changed to drawing the graphs.
As opposed to having the student just identify the zeros of the polynomial.
Impact on EL Students
The EL students in this study were level 3 and 4. This means that students are mostly
fluent in English. The impact of the study was the same as the rest of the class. They thought
making connections from the house and the polynomials was helpful. If the students were EL 1
or 2, instructions in their native language would be provided. The visuals would help support
their understanding.
My teaching role
The students had finished covering polynomial addition and multiplication and began
covering polynomial division when the study was conducted. During the project my role was to
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
assist the students who needed the extra support setting up the computation to find the area or
perimeter. I was there to help facilitate their learning, not providing the answer.
New questions
Limitations
Some limitations of PBL are time. Projects can take time and with limited time in the
classroom projects may not always be possible. However, Problem based learning can take place
instead of a project and have similar results. The different type of learners in the classroom can
limit the activities in the class. Some classes perform great group work as opposed to others that
prefer to work alone or will easily get of task. The limitations are low for PBL.
Conclusion
Transferring knowledge from the classroom to the real world is difficult for students.
They struggle to make connections and this is causing for them to lose interest in learning and
lowering down their grades. Project Based Learning allows to facilitate the connection between
what is being taught in class and how to use it in the real world. By creating a connection it
allows students to comprehend the material and perform higher in their assessments. The results
in this study indicate that Project Based Learning (PBL) supports students to make the
connections from what they learn on the classroom and apply it to the real world. This
connection allowed student to gain a better understanding of the content. They were able to
increase their average assessment score by 16%. It increased from a D to a B- in letter grade. In
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Running head: Project Based Learning in High School Mathematics
conclusion Project Based learning can successfully support students to improve their
achievement performance.
Appendices
Appendix A.. 25
Appendix B.. 27
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Appendix A
A copy of part one and the house blue prints of project use to perform the study. Ms.Merino has
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Appendix B
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References
Cervantes, B., Hemmer, L., & Kouzekanani, K. (2015). National Council of Professor of
Hung, W. (2016). All PBL Starts Here: The Problem. Interdisciplinary Journal of
Koparan , T., & Guven, B. (2014). The Effects on the 8th grade students attitude towards
Statistics of Project Based Learning. European Journal Of Educational Research ,3(2), 73-85.
Ozdemir, A. S., Yildiz, F., & Yildiz, S. G. (2015). The effect of project based learning in "ratio,
proportion and percentage" unit on mathematics success and attitude . European Journal Of
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RIALTO HIGH SCHOOL MISSION STATEMENT. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from
https://rhs-rialto-ca.schoolloop.com/MISSION
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