Choosing the optimal method for teaching scientific concepts to students presents a significant challenge for researchers. If teachers are unaware of the common difficulties students encounter in understanding scientific topics and in selecting the most effective learning methods, education will not succeed. This study examines the impact of project-based learning on the academic attitudes and engagement of student-teachers in Physics classes. The research utilizes a semi-experimental design with a two-group time series approach. This involves one measurement before the intervention and two measurements after the intervention for both experimental and control groups. Here we focus on student teachers studying physics at Farhangian University in Iran, who are concurrently teaching as interns in schools. For this study, two classes of student-teachers were selected using a convenience sampling method and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Initially, both groups were evaluated through questionnaires assessing academic attitude and engagement. During the academic year, students in the experimental group participated in 14 sessions of project-based learning, while the control group received traditional teacher-centered instruction. After the training, both groups completed posttests using the same assessments, and a follow-up test was administered one month after the intervention. The results of the repeated measures ANOVA analysis indicate a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in academic attitude (p < .014) and academic engagement (p < .001). This study represents the first implementation of the project-base learning approach in Iran, and the findings confirm its effectiveness in enhancing the academic attitudes and engagement of students.
Karimi et al. (Mon,) studied this question.