A Comparative Study of Project-based Learning versus instruction based on student textbook

The purpose of the study was to study the effects of project-based learning on 8th grade students‘ academic achievement in Thinking and lifestyle course. The quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design aimed to compare the effect of project-based learning versus. instruction based on student textbooks among Azari-speaking EFL eighth-grade junior high school students at Bostan Abad, East Azerbaijan. Totally 40 students in two different classes in the 8th grade of Motahhari school participated in the study. Two intact classes were provided by the two different instruction methods. There were twenty persons in experimental group and twenty students in control group. To ensure comparability and homogeneity of the participating groups prior to their treatment, participants are given the pretest, and to measure the effects of treatment, a post test was administered. The results of Independent-samples t-test indicated that there was a significant difference in scores for experimental group(M=17.65 ,SD=1.59)and control group(M=15.90,SD=2.51 ;t(38)= 2.62 ,p=0.01,two-tailed).The magnitude of the differences in the means(mean difference=1.75 ,95% CI: 0.40to 3.09)was very large effect(eta squared=0.15) . At the end of the research, it was revealed that the students who were educated by project-based learning was more successful than the students who were educated by the instruction based on student textbooks. It is recommended that teachers incorporate a project into the course where application of theoretical knowledge is applicable and make students create an end-product.