شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

This study aimed at identifying the impact of the project-based learning strategy on developing the mathematical thinking, academic achievement, and learning motivation in mathematics for middle school female students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The researcher selected three math units of grade 8 math book, for the academic year 2011-2012; proportionality and similarity, percentage, and engineering and spatial reasoning. The study lasted for 8 weeks, 5 periods of 45 minutes per week. The study sample has been composed of 52 female students from the second middle grade in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and has been divided into two groups, empirical (25 students), that has been studied using project based learning, and control group (27 students), that has been studied using the normal methodology. To achieve the study objectives, an educational material, based on project-based learning has been prepared to teach mathematics, test the academic achievement, test the mathematical thinking, and measure the learning motivation. These tools' robustness and credibility have been validated. The study showed the following findings: 1) there is a statistically significant difference between the average performance of the two groups on the mathematical thinking test, for the empirical group. 2) There is a statistically significant difference between the average performance of the two groups on the academic achievement test, for the empirical group. 3) There is a statistically significant difference between the average performance of the two groups on the learning motivation measure, for the empirical group. Based on these results, the researcher recommended to conduct more studies about using this strategy in all aspects of teaching and learning, and to promote using project-based learning in teaching and learning. (Author's abstract)