Project-Based Learning and High-Quality Teaching: Student Challenges and Scaffolding

Abstract

This case study delves into project-based learning (PBL) and high-quality teaching as conceptualised by OECD (2025), with the aim of identifying effective pedagogical strategies for PBL implementation. By examining the challenges faced by students and their responses to both teacher and peer scaffolding within a tertiary teaching context, the study unfolds a rich narrative. Data collection, spanning an entire semester, encompasses a range of sources, including student artefacts produced at various stages of the project, their data documentation files, and the teacher’s reflective teaching journal. Data analysis was carried out using the thematic analysis approach. By exploring in depth the complex interplay between PBL and high-quality teaching, the research offers new perspectives for the pedagogical design, implementation, and evaluation of PBL. The key findings have been translated into a three-dimensional model of PBL scaffolding, that is, methodological, emotional, and informational scaffolding. An important finding of this study is that student support and collaboration is as essential as teacher scaffolding in the successful implementation of PBL. The implications also extend to strategies for enhancing data and digital literacy of tertiary learners.