An integral part of my student teaching experience is the completion of an action research project. Action research is a method of examining one's own actions and investigating how those actions can influence others to learn. The project topic I researched is defined as “ The Effect of Project Based Learning on Science: An Exercise in Divergent Thinking". Project Based Learning (PBL) gives students the opportunity to apply skills they learn in school towards real-world situations. It engages students in higher-order -thinking which is an essential part of our 21st century school system. PBL was implemented into a third-grade suburban classroom, which led to a student created science project involving the community. My goal for this project was to measure the effect PBL had on higher-order-thinking. Data was collected using the Williams Creative Scale which measured fluency (quantity of ideas), flexibility (variety of ideas), originality, elaboration (details), and title.
