This study is the follow-up research of Education Reform through Project-based Learning (PBL) conducted by Korea Development Institute (KDI) and Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education (DMOE) between April 2015 and April 2016. KDI and DMOE both emphasize the changes in teaching practices in order to nurture students’ core competencies such as collaboration and communication, required for rapid technological progress era of so called fourth industrial revolution. Among various teaching practices, we focus on project-based learning (PBL). PBL is a student-centered teaching pedagogy in which students propose a task or project by themselves and work on the project together for an extended period of time. These characteristics of PBL can help students acquire future competencies such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.

The first year pilot study with two treatment and three comparison schools located in Daegu Metropolitan City analyzed the impacts of PBL on students’ social capital (other caring, trust and cooperation, friendship) and academic achievement. It showed that students’ social capital measured by public goods game improved whereas no significant changes on academic achievement were reported. However, the pilot study is limited as the number of sample schools was small and the location of sample schools was concentrated on one district, not representative of Daegu city. Moreover, one of two treatment schools has already introduced PBL a couple of years before the pilot study started. This second year study tries to overcome the limitations of the first year pilot study by increasing the sample size up to 12 schools covering six districts out of the total seven districts of Daegu city. We put emphasis on the analysis of students’ social capital, extensive friendship network, and its interaction. Moreover, we analyze the impact of PBL on teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction.

This study consists of five sections. Section 1 introduces the background and purpose of the research. Section 2 describes the PBL workshop and consultation provided to teachers of six treatment schools. Section 3 presents survey modules on friendship network survey, behavioral experiments such as dictator game and public goods game, and individual and group choice under uncertainty. Section 4 shows the impacts of PBL on students’ outcomes (friendship network, social capital, and rational group decision) through difference-in-differences specification. Section 5 analyze the impacts of PBL on teachers’ outcomes (self-efficacy and job satisfaction).

First, we show that the treatment schools increase PBL class by 10 hours on average during the 2016 Fall semester, compared to comparison schools. Second, we find positive impacts on students’ friendship network in the treatment schools and these impacts become larger for those who have vulnerable characteristics (low test score, low life satisfaction, or introverted personality). Third, we report that other caring behavior measured by the amount of dictator game donation increases in the treatment schools even after controlling friendship network, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Fourth, we present suggestive evidences that PBL may increase the efficiency and equality of group decision making processes under uncertainty although the results are not statistically significant. Finally, we analyze the impact of PBL on teachers’ outcomes and show that treated teachers’ self-efficacy in instruction and student engagement significantly increases while we do not have precise estimations on teachers’ job satisfaction.

Preface
Executive Summary

Chapter 1 Introduction
　Section 1 Background and Objectives of the Study
　Section 2 Structure of the Report
　References

Chapter 2 Project-based Learning (PBL) Teacher Training and Consultation
　Section 1 Overview
　Section 2 Teacher Training
　Section 3 Consultation
　Section 4 Observations on Teacher Training and Consultation

Chapter 3 Measuring the Impact of PBL on Students
　Section 1 Introduction
　Section 2 Friendship Networks
　Section 3 Friendship Networks and Prosocial Behavior (Sharing and Cooperation)
　Section 4 Group Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
　Section 5 Conclusion
References

Chapter 4 Empirical Analysis of PBL’s Impact on Students
　Section 1 Introduction
　Section 2 Research Design
　Section 3 Empirical Analysis
　Section 4 Impact of PBL on Friendship Networks and Social Capital
　Section 5 PBL and Group Decision-Making
　Section 6 Conclusion
　References

Chapter 5 Impact of PBL on Teachers
　Section 1 Introduction
　Section 2 Research Design
　Section 3 Empirical Model
　Section 4 Estimation Results
　Section 5 Conclusion
　References
　Appendix

ABSTRACT