Building Blocks: Project Based Learning in Human Development Research

Collaborative human development (HD) research projects can provide numerous benefits for students and faculty mentors. HD research opportunities for students are often limited to existing funded projects that may not meet individual student interests. Creating HD research projects that incorporate both student and faculty interests is mutually beneficial but poses unique challenges. HD research often requires complex observational methods, specific content knowledge, and interpersonal skills to work with families and children. Project-based learning (PBL) can provide a low-cost framework for students and faculty to align interests while helping students develop proficiency in human development research. PBL structures learning through the process of finding solutions to complicated questions (Jones, Rasmussen, & Moffitt, 1997). PBL is often used in engineering, business, and teacher training, but rarely in educating developmental researchers. This experience provides an active, \u27first hand feel\u27 to project development and illustrates the effectiveness of the PBL model in developing human development research. This apprenticeship model case study offers two rounds of qualitative, descriptive data to illustrate the experiences of an undergraduate student, several graduate students, and faculty involvement in a group-based PBL research project. Students and the faculty mentor answered questions regarding the challenges and benefits of participating in a PBL research project and the use of a PBL project for mentoring graduate students. Results from this case study indicate that PBL participation can be a beneficial academic experience. Specifically, students learned about the logistics and details of planning a research project from the beginning while learning to collaborate with and mentor each other. Results suggest that students and faculty within the HD field can collaborate in meaningful ways that provide mutual benefit and bring diverse strengths to a project that meets multiple learning, teaching, research, and service goals