Developing Core Competence With Project-Based Learning - Voices From Chinese High School Students Serving Visually Impaired Students

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

Study of project-based learning (PBL) in Chinese high schools examines student experiences and feedback for improving PBL implementation in China, especially when the course includes visually impaired students. A qualitative case study was conducted at two Suzhou high schools beginning their first PBL practice, combining visually impaired and ordinary students in a PBL unit focused on designing accessible garbage bins. Thematic coding indicates PBL strengthened core competence’s civic participation dimension, including social responsibility and problem-solving through empathy and feasible bin design. Recommendations address how to better use PBL pedagogy in K-12 inclusive education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Method

Course Design and Implementation

Results and Thematic Findings

Implications and Recommendations

Developing Core Competence With Project-Based Learning: Voices From Chinese High School Students Serving Visually Impaired Students Linli Zhou (周林莉) University of California Los Angeles Jia Li (李佳) Lingyun Education Highlights ECNU Review of Education 2022, Vol. 5(2) 383–389 ª The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/20965311211005478](DOI: 10.1177/20965311211005478)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/20965311211005478)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) 􀀁 This study explores the experiences of project-based learning (PBL) experimentation in Chinese high schools, especially the feedback that Chinese students have for better practicing PBL in China. 􀀁 We conducted a case study at two Chinese high schools in an intermediate city, Suzhou, which started their first PBL practice. The two high schools were chosen because of their unique initiative to mix visually impaired students (VIS) and ordinary students in a PBL course, which focuses on “designing accessible garbage bins for VIS.” Interviews and observations were conducted. All data are anonymized. 􀀁 After two rounds of thematic sorting and coding of the qualitative data, we found that the PBL course helped students develop two aspects of the civic participation dimension of core competence: social responsibility and problem-solving. Students learned to empathize with VIS to understand their needs and to build a more feasible and usable garbage bin. Corresponding author: Linli Zhou, The Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles, 11811 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Email: [llz1722@g.ucla.edu](llz1722@g.ucla.edu) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). 􀀁 This study provides instructional recommendations in terms of how to better utilize the pedagogy of PBL in Chinese K-12 schools, particularly to support teachers to facilitate students’ development of core competence and learning of inclusion, social responsibility, and sustainability by using the PBL technique. Keywords High school students, inclusive education, innovative education, project-based learning Date received: 13 November 2020; revised: 24 December 2020; accepted: 3 March 2021 Introduction Scholars and practitioners promoting curriculum innovation argued that project-based learning (PBL) could be a strategy to promote students’ academic and social competence development (Hasni et al., 2016; Yao, 2018; Zhao, 2020) . PBL often refers to an innovative, student-driven teaching method that aims to teach students “a multitude of strategies critical for success in the twenty-first century”(Bell, 2010; Larmer & Mergendoller, 2015) . PBL was introduced in China in the 2000s and became popular in the 2010s due to its significance in enhancing students’ deep learning that contributes to their learning outcomes as well as core competence development (Zhao, 2020) . Though PBL has been popular at K-12 schools in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, other Chinese K-12 schools in less developed cities have not yet engaged in PBL practices. Besides, for those schools starting PBL experiments, the impact on students ’ core competence was not clear enough to motivate high schools ’ commitment to curriculum innovation to build students ’ core competence (social responsibilities and problem-solving

FAQs

What is the focus of the PBL course described in the study?

The course centers on designing accessible garbage sorting bins for visually impaired students, integrating both ordinary and visually impaired students.

How was the research conducted and what data were collected?

The study used a retrospective case study design with interviews and observations; qualitative data were anonymized and analyzed through thematic sorting and coding.

What core competence aspects did students develop through the PBL course?

Students developed civic participation components, particularly social responsibility and problem-solving, by learning to empathize with visually impaired students and build a more feasible and usable bin.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk