3.5 SECTION ONE: PARTICIPANTS
The population for this study consisted of two seventh grade social studies classes which totaled
56 students: 31 girls and 25 boys. Parental and student permission forms were signed and
approved for students’ participation in the study and the administration of the Bandura Self-
Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning Scale and the Goal Orientation Index to students before
and after the study. The school administration granted permission to implement the study.
The students’ ages ranged from 11 years old to 13 years old. All of the students in the
sample attend regular education classes. Seven students incorporate gifted education classes in
their curriculum. The students are primarily white, and they come from a middle to lower
socioeconomic background. I selected two classes out of my five for this study in order to
individually monitor the outcomes of a project-based learning experience and evaluate the
students’ feedback. For comparative purposes, I chose one of the classes I teach in the morning
and another class in the afternoon. The morning class’ population consisted of six gifted
students and 22 regular education students; the afternoon class’ population consisted of one
gifted student and 27 regular education students. These two classes were the most populated
classes among my five classes. Both of these classes also had the most equal distribution of boys
and girls and academic skill levels in comparison to the other three classes. An important feature
of a project-based learning experience is the existence of a socially-based curriculum which
allows students to interact with one another, discuss their choices, and create collaborative
relationships within the classroom. The observation of two classes in this study afforded me the
opportunity to more closely analyze the students’ feedback and progress of goal accomplishment
throughout the life of the project. Pseudonyms were given to student participants’ names in this
study.