The Effect of the Instruction by Project Based Learning (PBL) on the Student’s Achievement in Science Subject and Problem-Solving ability of Secondary School Students

Abstract

          The purposes of this research were to 1) compare achievement in learning science subject between experimental group and control group 2) compare achievement in learning science subject between pretest and posttest of experimental group 3) compare problem solving ability between experimental group and control group 4) compare problem solving ability between pretest and posttest of experimental group. The samples were 77 Mathayomsuksa two students Boonkumrachbamrung school, Pathum Thani, selected by simple random sampling. The samples were divided into two groups; the experimental group used the instruction by Project Based Learning (PBL) and the control group was taught using conventional approach. The research instruments were 1) lesson plans on teaching science by PBL in structure of the Earth topic 2) an achievement test in structure of the Earth topic, included 20 items with the reliability = 0.84, the item discrimination = 0.21-0.97, and the item difficulty = 0.2-0.76 3) a test of problem solving ability, included 20 items with the reliability = 0.70, the item discrimination = 0.21-0.79, and the item difficulty = 0.22-0.77.

          The research results were as follows: (1) After the experiment, achievement in learning science subject of the experimental group and the control group were significantly different at the statistical level of.05. (2) After the experiment, the experimental group had the achievement in learning science subject higher than before the experiment at the statistical level of.05. (3) After the experiment, problem solving ability of the experimental group and the control group were significantly different at the statistical level of.05. and (4) After the experiment, the experimental group had the problem-solving ability higher than before the experiment at the statistical level of.05.