The association of self-determination with student engagement moderated by teacher scaffolding in a Project-Based Learning (PBL) case

ABSTRACT

Few studies provide conceptual frameworks that help teachers make decisions about the scaffolding they will offer their students in project-based learning (PBL) processes. To address this deficiency, an adaptation of the motivational development self-system model was used and a PBL experience involving high school students who had to create an electric vehicle that used solar energy was analysed. Applying a multi-group analysis with structural equations, in general, it was observed that the continued support of the teacher in the project activities strengthened the association of students’ self-determination with their affective and cognitive engagement. The data suggest that scaffolding can compensate for deficits in self-efficacy, relationship and autonomy of the group of students. This study provides a model that can be validated in experimental investigations in which the level of self-determination of students is controlled.

KEYWORDS:

• Project-based learning
• pre-university education
• engineering education
• scaffolding
• group autonomy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT) [FCT-19 -14492 and FCT -20-15499].

Notes on contributors

Ramón Tirado-Morueta

Ramón Tirado-Morueta. Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Huelva. He has extensive experience as a teacher in the area of Educational Technology. He is director of the Doctoral programme in Social Science and Education at the University of Huelva, Spain.

Yolanda Ceada-Garrido

Yolanda Ceada-Garrido. Student of the Doctorate Program of Social Sciences and Education, for the line of Research and Social and Educational Intervention. She has participated in two research and six educational research projects at the University of Huelva related to technical teachings.

Antonio J. Barragán

Antonio J. Barragán received the Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Huelva, Spain, in 1998, the Automatic and Electronic Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Málaga, Spain, in 2002, and the Ph.D. degree in computer systems and automatics engineering from the University of Huelva, Spain, in 2009.

Juan M. Enrique

Juan M. Enrique received the Physics degree specializing in electronics from the University of Seville, Spain, in 1997, and the master's degree in control engineering, electronic systems and industrial informatics and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Huelva, Spain, in 2010 and 2011, respectively. He is the author of several articles on power electronics and about maximum power point tracking in photovoltaic systems.

José M. Andujar

José M. Andujar is currently a Full Professor of systems engineering and automatic control with the University of Huelva. He has more than 420 publications, among them more than 130 articles published in indexed journals in the ISI Journal Citation Reports. He holds 17 international patents.