Fostering 4Cs of students through STEM project based learning: A collaborative action research

Date of Award

2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Philosophy in Education (MPhil Ed.)

First Advisor

Dr Tasneem Anwar

Department

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Abstract

This collaborative action research explored the potential of STEM Project-Based Learning (STEM-PBL) to enhance grade 7 student’s 21st-century skills particularly the 4C’s: creative thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. The study was conducted in a private resourced constrained school in Karachi. A two-week long STEM-PBL unit on “Summer Monsoon and Urban Flooding in Karachi” having eight lessons were implemented. Data was collected through focus group discussions, critical friend observation rubrics, researcher’s reflective journal, students learning journey maps, and PBL rubrics. The findings indicated that STEM-PBL created opportunities for students to engage in creative thinking through authentic and hands-on tasks that connected learning to real-world contexts. Critical thinking was fostered through problem-solving and prototype redesigning processes, allowing students to test and refine their ideas. Collaboration and communication emerged as key skills, requiring consistent teacher facilitation to support teamwork and idea-sharing. The research further led to pedagogical refinement, as the teacher adapted instructional strategies to better scaffold opportunities like watching videos, solving worksheets with peers and task distribution during group inquiry. Overall, the study suggests that STEM-PBL can serve as an effective pedagogical model even in a resource-constrained school context to promote students’ holistic skill development and active engagement in meaningful learning experiences. It contributes both practical insights for teachers seeking to adopt STEM-PBL and scholarly understanding of how collaborative action research fosters pedagogical and learner growth.

First Page

1

Last Page

109

This document is available in the relevant AKU library.

Share

COinS