Putting PjBL to the Test: The Impact of Project-Based Learning on Second Graders’ Social Studies and Literacy Learning and Motivation in Low-SES School Settings
We checked this card's citation and the finding we state against the source's own page or record in October 2026.
What it found
Second graders whose teachers taught four project-based social studies units, with professional development, grew more in social studies and informational reading than the comparison group, but not in writing or motivation. Classes that followed the unit plans more closely grew more in writing, motivation and reading.
What kind of study it is
- Design
- Randomized trial in schools
- Weight
- A trial in schools: it compares groups that got the practice with groups that didn't.
- Sample
- 48 second-grade teachers in low-income districts, randomly assigned in pairs within schools
- Who
- School-age children (K–12)
Read it
doi.org/10.3102/0002831220929638
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Cited in the Library
Cite this study
Duke, N. K., Halvorsen, A.-L., Strachan, S. L., Kim, J., & Konstantopoulos, S. (2021). Putting PjBL to the test: The impact of project-based learning on second graders’ social studies and literacy learning and motivation in low-SES school settings. American Educational Research Journal, 58(1), 160–200. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831220929638
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