Exploring Challenges and Solutions Perceived by High School Mathematics Teachers in Practicing Project-Based Learning: Analysis of an Open-Ended Online Questionnaire in Japan:: Science Publishing Group

Exploring Challenges and Solutions Perceived by High School Mathematics Teachers in Practicing Project-Based Learning: Analysis of an Open-Ended Online Questionnaire in Japan

Chomunorwira Tafara, Koyama Masataka

Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan

Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, Volume 8, Issue 3, September 2023

Pages: 146-152

Received: Jul. 05, 2023

Accepted: Jul. 25, 2023

Published: Aug. 09, 2023

DOI: 10.11648/j.tecs.20230803.15

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the challenges faced by junior and senior high school mathematics teachers in practicing project-based learning (mainly task-based learning that mathematically solves real-world problems) in the classroom and their solutions to the challenges. Therefore, with the approval of the Research Ethics Review Committee, we conducted an open-ended online questionnaire survey (July 15 to August 31, 2022) of high school mathematics teachers in Japan about the issues they face and the solutions in the three stages of project-based learning: the design and preparation stage of the learning tasks to be handled in project-based learning, the implementation process, and the evaluation stage. In this paper, we analyzed the data from 25 high school mathematics teachers who agreed and responded to the purpose of this survey using a qualitative content analysis method. As a result, it was clarified that mathematics teachers face six challenges when practicing project-based learning in the classroom: designing authentic mathematical tasks, arousing students' interest, the degree of learning support for students, collaborative activities in groups, securing time, and evaluating learning outcomes. Second, it was clarified that mathematics teachers are trying to solve these problems by creating project-based learning tasks in small scale and for a short time, collaborating with mathematics teachers at the same school, collaborating with teachers of other subjects at the same school, collaborating with students, collaborating with experts in mathematics education, and investigating previous studies on project-based learning. Finally, based on these research results, we suggest research issues that need to be addressed in future research on the practice of project-based learning in mathematics education.

Keywords

Project-Based Learning, Teachers’ Challenges, Teachers’ Solutions, Mathematics Classroom

To cite this article

Chomunorwira Tafara, Koyama Masataka. (2023). Exploring Challenges and Solutions Perceived by High School Mathematics Teachers in Practicing Project-Based Learning: Analysis of an Open-Ended Online Questionnaire in Japan. Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, 8(3), 146-152. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.tecs.20230803.15

Copyright © 2023 Authors retain the copyright of this article.
This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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