Project-Based Learning in Math Teaching: comparative study between teaching methods

Abstract New teaching methodologies are being used in the classroom as a way to promote better learning of curricular contents. The social, economic, and technological changes of the contemporary world impose on the educational system the need to develop new models of teaching and learning. The objective of this study was to compare, in two classes of students, the method of expository teaching and project-based learning concomitantly with traditional teaching. We used a experimental design with the teaching method as an independent variable, and as independent variables, the motivation to learn, attitudes towards mathematics, and school performance. The results found were: in motivation to learn and attitudes in relation to mathematics no significant differences between the teaching methods were found. Regarding school performance, one of the classes that used project-based learning had a better performance than the one which used the method of expository teaching. The results indicate that project-based learning is a feasible teaching method in basic education with results slightly higher than the traditional teaching method.