Date
11-13-2025
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Maryna Svirska-Otero
Keywords
project-based learning, culturally relevant and sustaining education, playwriting instruction, school racial climate, diversity
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Aungst, Gerald W., "Culturally Relevant Project-Based Learning: A Quasi-Experimental Study of the Effect of Playwriting Instruction on Student Perceptions of School Racial Climate" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7645.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7645
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental posttest-only nonequivalent control group study with matched comparison groups was to determine if any differences exist in perceptions of school racial climate in four areas—quality of interaction, promotion of cultural competence, cultural socialization, and critical consciousness socialization—among middle-school students receiving culturally relevant project-based writing instruction, standard project-based writing instruction, and traditional writing instruction when controlling for prior English language arts achievement. A convenience sample of at 83 middle school students in two urban schools in Pennsylvania were given project-based playwriting instruction by a nonprofit arts organization. One similar school served as a control. Student perceptions of school racial and cultural climate were measured using four subscales of the School Climate for Diversity – Secondary Scale. English language arts achievement was a covariate, measured using the previous year’s English language arts scores from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test. A one-way multivariate analysis of covariance found no significant difference among the three groups. Planned contrasts found a significant, medium effect for project-based learning on perceptions of promotion of cultural competence and critical consciousness socialization. A significant, negative effect of the culturally relevant intervention was found on critical consciousness socialization. Limitations of the study are discussed. Future research should replicate this with a larger sample and baseline perception data, explore differences in perceptions by racial group, and examine the relationship among underlying school culture, instructional practices, and student perceptions of racial climate.
