The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes

Inquiry-based learning approaches have been promoted as an instructional method for students at all levels. An inquiry approach requires students to discover or construct knowledge through relevant activities and personal investigations. Due to the student driven nature of inquiry learning, it is re...

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Main Authors: Sarah Johnson, Josh Cuevas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Georgia Southern University 2016-07-01
Series:Georgia Educational Researcher
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gerjournal/vol13/iss1/2
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spelling doaj-3082fb82229f4c99b0f9f2ee01bc469f2020-11-25T01:21:24ZengGeorgia Southern UniversityGeorgia Educational Researcher2471-00592016-07-0113110.20429/ger.2016.130102The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning ProcessesSarah JohnsonJosh CuevasInquiry-based learning approaches have been promoted as an instructional method for students at all levels. An inquiry approach requires students to discover or construct knowledge through relevant activities and personal investigations. Due to the student driven nature of inquiry learning, it is reasonable to believe that students will become more motivated to read and to engage in critical thinking after participating in the inquiry approach. This quantitative study observes the effects of inquiry project based learning (PBL) on reading motivation and students’ perceptions of higher order thinking processes in a middle school language arts classroom. By comparing inquiry project based learning to fully guided instruction using an experimental study design, it was hypothesized that reading motivation and perceptions of inquiry thinking processes would increase after eight weeks of implementing the inquiry PBL model. The control and treatment group’s reading motivation was compared using pre-tests and post-tests of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) (Wigfield and Guthrie 1997), and student perception of the type of learning and the learning processes they have experienced in the class was measured with an instrument created by Spronken-Smith, Walker, Batchelor, O’Steen, & Angelo (2012). An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was run to determine any change in groups after the treatment, and Pearson Correlations were run to examine relationships between motivation constructs and perceptions of learning processes. There was no indication that inquiry PBL had any significant effects on the treatment group in terms of reading motivation or perceptions of critical thinking.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gerjournal/vol13/iss1/2inquiryproject-based learningreading motivationhigher-order thinking
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sarah Johnson
Josh Cuevas
spellingShingle Sarah Johnson
Josh Cuevas
The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes
Georgia Educational Researcher
inquiry
project-based learning
reading motivation
higher-order thinking
author_facet Sarah Johnson
Josh Cuevas
author_sort Sarah Johnson
title The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes
title_short The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes
title_full The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes
title_fullStr The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes
title_full_unstemmed The Effects of Inquiry Project-Based Learning on Student Reading Motivation and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Learning Processes
title_sort effects of inquiry project-based learning on student reading motivation and student perceptions of inquiry learning processes
publisher Georgia Southern University
series Georgia Educational Researcher
issn 2471-0059
publishDate 2016-07-01
description Inquiry-based learning approaches have been promoted as an instructional method for students at all levels. An inquiry approach requires students to discover or construct knowledge through relevant activities and personal investigations. Due to the student driven nature of inquiry learning, it is reasonable to believe that students will become more motivated to read and to engage in critical thinking after participating in the inquiry approach. This quantitative study observes the effects of inquiry project based learning (PBL) on reading motivation and students’ perceptions of higher order thinking processes in a middle school language arts classroom. By comparing inquiry project based learning to fully guided instruction using an experimental study design, it was hypothesized that reading motivation and perceptions of inquiry thinking processes would increase after eight weeks of implementing the inquiry PBL model. The control and treatment group’s reading motivation was compared using pre-tests and post-tests of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) (Wigfield and Guthrie 1997), and student perception of the type of learning and the learning processes they have experienced in the class was measured with an instrument created by Spronken-Smith, Walker, Batchelor, O’Steen, & Angelo (2012). An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was run to determine any change in groups after the treatment, and Pearson Correlations were run to examine relationships between motivation constructs and perceptions of learning processes. There was no indication that inquiry PBL had any significant effects on the treatment group in terms of reading motivation or perceptions of critical thinking.
topic inquiry
project-based learning
reading motivation
higher-order thinking
url https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gerjournal/vol13/iss1/2
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