Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Project-based Learning in a Conservative Educational System. Greek Students’ Views

Abstract

The present questionnaire-based study examines 170 Greek upper secondary public and private education students' perceptions about the factors that facilitate or undermine project-based learning within the framework of the highly conservative Greek educational system, about the cognitive, affective and social skills they developed during the carrying-out of project procedures, and about the levels of satisfaction they experienced during their cooperation with their supervising teachers. According to the results, project-based learning is more effectively implemented in private schools due to infrastructure provided, due to effective coordination of welldefined and pre-planned activities, and due to higher levels of teachers' professional commitment and students' learning objectives and expectations. The research also shows that project-based learning, even when embedded in and restricted by traditional educational environments, is considered to produce higher academic attainments for low-achievers, and to facilitate the development of high-ranked cognitive and social skills through students' involvement in real-life situations, and active participation in problem-solving and decision-making procedures. It also indicates that for the majority of the participants the role of the supervising teacher is crucial since s/he defines the rules of communication, the techniques and the stages of the project carrying-out, and the assessment procedures. It finally shows that Greek students, despite apparent satisfaction experienced due to their participation in project procedures, remain skeptical as regards traditional teachers' ability to assess reliably group performance, to provide effectively individualized assistance to low-performing group members, and to encourage high-achievers who have never before worked in unfamiliar learning situations.

Collaborative Τeaching as a Social form of Organizing Teaching in Primary Education: Views and Attitudes of Greek Teachers

“…The body In recent years, collaborative learning has been the subject of intense academic debate due to the increasing importance of working in teams to solve increasingly challenging problems in modern life and work (Du et al, 2022). In this context, the idea of collaborative work as a method of promoting social and relational skills in the classroom, such as sociability, cooperativeness, responsibility, empathy, tolerance, as well as feelings of self-esteem, usefulness and acceptance, began to develop in the 1970s (Bores -García et al, 2021;Kaldi et al, 2009;Koutrouba & Alexaki, 2016;Mpotsoglou et al, 2007;Ferguson -Patrick, 2022;Tzika et al, 2015). Scientific literature has shown that a child learns to function socially in a school (Santamaría -Villar et al, 2021).…”