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Degree

Master of Arts in Education, Defiance College, Education, 2005.

Abstract

Twenty-four 9th grade high school students in a small, rural Midwest high school participated in the study. The students were enrolled in two College-Preparatory Language Arts classes; eleven of the participants were males and thirteen were female. The purpose of the study was to find out if Problem-Based Learning improved the participants' essay writing skills. Before the school year started, the teacher/researcher constructed a rubric that included the skills needed to write an effective essay. The students were assigned to write two essays, one using a direct teaching method and the other using Problem-Based Learning. Both essays were scored with the same rubric and the scores were entered on a spreadsheet for analysis. Data was also collected by teacher observations of the students' quality of task during both the direct teaching method and during the Problem-Based Learning method. The scores and observations showed an improvement when Problem-Based Learning was used.

Subject Headings

Composition

Keywords

problem-based learning; composition; high school; writing; rubric; essays; ninth grade

Committee / Advisors

Thomas Case (Advisor)
Suzanne McFarland (Committee Member)

Pages

52p.

Document number: def1281634137
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=def1281634137

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