Page 57 - Pedagoška vizija / A Pedagogical Vision

Exploring the Content of Cultural Heritage through Project-Based Learning

Societal trends
Heritage and my life Mentor’s role Thought processes
and heritage
Impact of project-based activities Teachers’ observations

Project-based learning

Students’ perceptions of project work

Challenging tasks Drawbacks Benefits Inclination

Proactive approach Frustration

Figure 2 Categories Made upon Semantic Relatedness

Data Analysis
A qualitative content analysis was applied to examine the data acquired
through open-ended data collection techniques in order to understand a
phenomenon and not to generalize from the study sample to the popu-
lation (Kordeš and Smrdu 2015). First, the data was thoroughly reviewed
in the pre-survey questionnaires, students’ self-evaluation, and evaluators’
sheets, underlining the keywords. Then it was grouped according to their
semantic relatedness within the realm of the research questions, first into
lower-order categories and then higher-order categories (figure 2). The last
step was the interpretation, which refers to re-assembling and synthesiz-
ing and amounted to a coherent understanding and explanation of the re-
searched phenomena (Forman and Damschroder 2007). Thus, all qualita-
tive data obtained from students and evaluators was carefully analysed and
cross-compared.

Findings
Findings are reported in three sections: students’ perceptions of project
work, evaluators’ observations, and the impact of PBL on students’ lives.

Students’ Perceptions of Project Work
The initial aim was to understand how students perceive project work. The
majority said they like it because ‘I like to collaborate with others,’ many said
yes, ‘provided that the work is evenly divided,’ ‘the instructions are clear’ and
‘other team members share the same goals and expectations and are equally

57