Learning history through project-based learning

Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn) Vol. 17, No. 1, February 2023, pp. 67~75 ISSN: 2089-9823 DOI: 10.11591/edulearn.v17i1.20398  67 Learning history through project-based learning Sin Wei Lim1, Rosmawijah Jawawi2, Jainatul Halida Jaidin2, Roslinawati Roslan2 2 1 Pengiran Isteri Hajjah Mariam Secondary School, Ministry of Education, Serasa, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: In a 21st century classroom, project-based learning (PBL) can be the key strategy in helping students become independent learners and thinkers. PBL provides a pedagogical approach that is appealing and can be used not only in the subject of history but also across different disciplines. This study examines the impact of project-based learning on students’ understandings of Upper Secondary Brunei history lessons. Data was collected from a Year 10 Upper Secondary history classroom in one secondary school in Brunei through an action research method. The instruments used were lesson observations, semi-structured interviews and pre- and post-tests. The interview was conducted with eight students while classroom teaching of the subject teacher was observed. The pre- and post-tests were given to students before and after the intervention of PBL. The findings in this study showed that the students were still underperforming after the PBL intervention but had shown potential for further improvements with more exposure to project-based learning. Received Oct 18, 2021 Revised Oct 24, 2022 Accepted Nov 29, 2022 Keywords: Action research Collaborative learning Project-based learning Secondary history education Teacher education This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license. Corresponding Author: Rosmawijah Jawawi Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Insitute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam Tungku Link, BE 1410, Brunei Darussalam Email: 1. INTRODUCTION Globalisation has not only opened up many new opportunities for individuals but has also brought about challenges for the people of the society today. As the world was becoming more globalised, there calls a need for individuals to attain different sets of skills and knowledge that will open doors for them to land a secure job in an increasingly competitive labour market [1]. There is a need to develop a ‘world-class education system’ that would not only be used to increase the quality of students’ education but to also equip students with skills that would prepare them for the rapidly changing global environment [2]. In Brunei, the Ministry of Education (MOE) started a move towards changing the education system in 2009. The aim was to prepare Bruneian students for a globalised society and this was translated through the implementation of the national educational system, known in Malay as “Sistem Pendidikan Negara Abad ke-21” or the National Education System for the 21st Century, in short, SPN21. The strategy called the need for students to be equipped with 21st century skills such as ‘technological literacy skills, critical thinking skills and problemsolving skills’ that are deemed valuable in the techno-centric world today [3]. Being equipped with these skills will ensure the success in the assimilation of the younger Brunei generations into the rapidly-changing and competitive labour workforce of the near future [2]–[4]. To ensure that the younger generation would develop 21st century skills in schools, the Ministry of Brunei had taken initiatives to make changes to the curriculum that would put an emphasis on student-centred learning as was evident in the introduction of the school-based assessment (SBA), where a percentage of the students’ overall grades would be attained from project work [5], [6]. The Ministry of Education had Journal homepage: http://edulearn.intelektual.org 68  ISSN: 2089-9823 emphasised that SBA would act as a platform in ensuring that there was an increase ‘in the application, analysis and evaluation of student involvement in practical work, projects, presentations and learning activities’ that would not only provide students with knowledge and understanding of the subject but would also provide them with necessary skills that would gear them towards higher order thinking and to obtain ‘quality-oriented education’ [3], [5]–[7]. A shift in the teaching paradigm thus brings about the transformation of the teacher’s role from the provider of knowledge to that of a facilitator who would provide guidance to the students in their learning [3], [7], [8]. In Brunei, there had been a gradual drop in the number of students taking history at upper secondary level in Brunei [4] and history was one of the most underperformed subjects in the Cambridge O-level examination that the students sit for at the end of their secondary school years [9], [10]. On the issue of the drop in the number of students taking history as a subject, it was possible to argue that one of the reasons for this could be the change in the curriculum that combined both history and geography into one subject known as social studies for the upper primary and lower secondary levels. As compared to the years prior to the change in the curriculum to SPN21, it was noted that students were more exposed to historical contents at an earlier age as was reflected in the textbooks that were used during their upper primary school years [9], [10]. Even though students learned about the history of Brunei in Social Studies subject, more emphasis were now put on geographical and cultural contents in the new curriculum [11]. Over time, due to the lack of exposure to the history of Brunei from a young age, this will cause students to not think highly of the importance of learning history and thus, students will either choose to not learn history at upper secondary level or to underperform in the subject when given the opportunity to learn history [11]. It was possible to argue that the issue on the underperformances of the students in history may be due to the lack of enthusiasm of these students when it comes to learning the subject. As an optional subject in Brunei secondary schools, history was often only been offered as a choice subject to students [9], [11]. This impedes the chances for students who are genuinely interested in taking up the subject and forces the subject upon students who are not in the least interested in learning about history [9]. Previous studies found that students who were forced to take history often underperformed in the classroom [9], [11]. Students not only dreaded to attend the classes but also found the subject to be “boring” and thus, they often did not put in any effort to learn about the subject [10]. Although the SPN21 curriculum calls for lessons to be more student-centred, it was found that the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ method was still predominantly used in lessons [12]. This wa (...truncated)