Project Based Learning: An Informal Way of Meaningful Science Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the enhancement of learning skills in students that chose science as a carrier subject using project-based learning (PBL). Eighty students (n=80) were analysed during the project designing, it's execution and finally it's presentation. Participants were grouped in two teams of 5 each such that one focusses on developing experiments and other on it's technical part. The projects were assigned to each group taking into consideration it's feasibility in school laboratory. Questionnaires that included items to measure i.e., ease of learning subject matter, teamwork, and developing communication skills were used to evaluate students’ improvement before and after the intervention. The students were also assessed to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention on a 5-point Likert scale (1 indicating an extremely negative rating and 5 an extremely positive rating). For the data taken from the closed response questions in the grid, we calculated the average. This study revealed that PBL significantly improved ease of learning, teamwork, and communication skills in school students. PBL proved to be beneficial and effective way of science education and inculcated managerial and professional skills in school students.