MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2

TRAN VU KHANH

PROJECT-BASED TEACHING OF PEDAGOGICAL
SKILLS FOR STUDENTS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

Major: EDUCATION
CODE: 9 14 01 01
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

HANOI - 2018


Thesis is completed at HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2

Scientific Supervisor 1 : Associate Prof. Dr Dang Thanh Hung
Scientific Supervisor 2 : Dr. Trinh Thi Hong Ha

Reviewer 1: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Reviewer 2: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Reviewer 3: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The thesis will be defended before the University Thesis
Examining Council at at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 at …. (time)
on …… (date) in……(year).


teaching activities and learners‟ learning activities in the process of
applying learning projects in such environmental conditions that
learning projects create.
3.2. Research subject
The object of this research is the relationship between teachers‟
teaching activities and learners‟ learning activities in the process of
applying learning projects in such environmental conditions that
learning projects create.
3.3. Research scope
Identifying theoretical foundation of Project-based teaching of
pedagogical skills for students majoring in primary education.


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Identifying practical basis of Project-based teaching of
pedagogical skills for students majoring in primary education.
Proposing methods for Project-based teaching of pedagogical
skills in training Bachelor of primary education
Carrying out scientific experiment in order to evaluate research
results.
4. Scientific assumption
It is assumed that when methods of project-based teaching of
pedagogical skills accurately follow characteristics, principles of
designing and implementing projects, and the learning projects can
create such a collaborative environment and opportunities to experience
and practice for students, they will bring positive effects to the learing
process and results of pedagogical skills.
5. Research tasks
5.1. Identifying theoretical and pratical of the project-based
teaching for pedagogical skills training in training Bachelor of primary

- Theoretical comparison and conceptualization through
modeling.
- Historic and logical methods to analyze and evaluate the
current researching context and to identify research subject and
methods.
6.2.2. Practical methods
- Investigating sociology and social psychology through
questionnaire.
- Investigating education through questionnaire, interview,
observation, statistical data analysis, teaching profile and teaching and
learning management profile.
- Utilizing practical methods to organize experimental teaching
activities with learning projects and corresponding learning activities
6.2.3. Other methods
- Employing expert method in order to evaluate research results
- Employing the mothod of scientific information and data
processing by computer-based statistic and calculation techniques.
- Utilizing case study for additional evaluation of sienctific
experiment results.
7. Arguments
7.1. Pedagogical skills account for a major propotion in the
professional capacity of primary school teachers. An important feature
of the teaching of pedagogical skills is to expose students to practice;
therefore, project-based teaching of pedagogical skills is an appropriate
and highly effective method.
7.2. There are a lot of problems in the current situation of
teaching pedagogical skills for students of primary education. It has not
met the requirement of professional practice for students in order to



7. Structure of this dissertation
In addition to such parts as Introduction, Conclusion and
suggestion, References and Appendix, there are 4 chapters in this
dissertation.
Chapter 1. Theoretical foundation of project-based teaching for
pedagogical skills training for students of primary education.


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Chapter 2. Current situation of the teaching of pedagogical
skills for students of primary education from the project-based teaching
perspectives.
Chapter 3. Project-based teaching methods for pedagogical
skills training for students of primary education
Chapter 4. Scientific experiment

Chapter 1. THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF PROJECTBASED TEACHING FOR PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING
FOR STUDENTS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION
1.1. Overview of the research subject
1.1.1. Researches in pedagogical skills training
1.1.2. Researches in project-based teaching
In Vietnam and many other countries in the world, there are
numerous researches and applications of project-based teaching in
almost every field. Results from researches and experiments show both
advantages and disadvantages of this teaching approach. The
disadvantages include time, teaching curriculum, facilities and the lack
of theoretical foundation. Recently, in Vietnam, there have been a
number of researches in project-based teaching at different educational
levels and majors; however, project-based teaching for pedagogical
skills training has not been particularly researched. This is such a big

1.2.1.1. Content
1.2.1.2. Features
a) Pedagogical skills are a unique training area of teaching
profession.
b) In learning pedagogical skills, it is absolutely vital to provide
students with a great amount of practicing, experiencing and working
with reality.
c) The content of pedagogical skills cover many knowledge
areas and skills of the teaching profession.
d) To learn pedagogical skills, it is a prerequisite that students
experience teaching and practice teaching.
1.2.3. Characteristics of students of Primary Education
1.2.3.1. Psychological characteristics
1.2.3.2. Learning characteristics
1.2.3.3. Social characteristics
1.3. Project-based teaching of pedagogical skills for students of
primary education
1.3.1. Some concepts
1.3.1.1. Project method


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Project method is a method for development management in such
fields as economy, healthcare, education, transportation. It is then applied
in the teaching and learning process as a form of learning organization. In
the past, there were lesson-based teaching strategies, and nowadays,
project-based teaching and many other methods are added.
1.3.1.2. Learning project
Learning projects are essential in project-based teaching
method. In this dissertation, the concept of learning project can be

traidtional lessons. Therefore, project-based teaching is a teaching
method or organization whose primary characteristics are to create an
active, cooperative, and friendly learning environment by learning
projects, in which learners complete learning tasks which are complex
and open, and require the combination of theory and practice. This
method requires students‟ high responsibility throughout their learning
process to create a product and introduce it in class, and they are
evaluated by their own projects.
1.3.2. Characteristics of learning projects in the teaching of
pedagogical skills for students of Primary Education
1.3.2.1. Pedagogical critera of learning projects
a) The process of project-based teaching
According to such authors as Alan & Stoller (2005), Stoller
(1997) Sheppard & Stoller (1995), project-based teaching requires 10
steps
1. Teachers and students agree upon the ideas and topics of the
projects
2. Teachers and students discuss the final project products.
3. Students design the project structure with teachers‟ support.
4. Teachers prepare students to be ready for data collection step.
5. Students collect the needed data and information.
6. Teachers prepare students to be ready for data analysis step.
7. Students analyze data.
8. Teachers prepare students the langage and skills required in
the process of conducting the projects.
9. Students present their final products..
10. Students evaluate themselves.
b) General structure of project-based teaching
Project-based teaching requires the following elements:
1. Analyzing learning objectives and content which are

4. Teaching is primarily through and depend on social skills.
5. Collaborative group management
6. Probematic features of learning content, mainly the social
ones.
7. The involvement of everyone in all aspects.
8. Exploring and working in order to achieve the final products
and in the context that learning content is unavailable.
9. Self-reliance and successive prositivity of learners.
1.3.3.2. The characteristics and roles of the project-based teaching
of pedagogical skills
a). Characteristics
- The topic of the project relfect pedagogical content


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-

Learning pedagogical skills is the process of conducting the
projects.
- Learning outcomes are reflected in the final project product and
its process.
- Students‟ self-evaluation is included in assessment.
- Teaching is the process of action guiding and problem solvin
b) Roles
- Focusing on professional skills
- Creating opportunities for students to experience
- Encouraging collaboration and sharing
- Practicing problem solving capacity
- Creating an open and active learning environment
Summary of chapter 1

2.2. Survey
2.2.1. Purpose, scale, location and participants
2.2.1.1. Purpose
To evaluate the training of pedagogical skills for Primary
Education students and the application of PBT in a number of content
areas
2.2.1.2. Scale, location and participants
The sample consists of 640 participants.
Period of survey: from September 2014 to September 2017
2.2.2. Survey content and methods
2.2.2.1. Content
- The teaching of pedagogical skills
- The awareness of Project based teaching
- The application of Project based teaching
2.2.2.2. Survey methods
- Survey questionnaire
- Experience, Interview, Profile analysis, Observation
- Data processing with statistics, quantitative assessment,
qualitative assessment.
2.3. Analysis
2.3.1. The teaching of pedagogical skills
2.3.1.1. Teaching methods of pedagogical skills
2.3.1.2. Teaching strategies of pedagogical skills
2.3.1.3. Effectiveness of teaching pedagogical skills
2.3.2. The awareness of Project-based teaching


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2.3.2.1. Understanding of PBT characteristics
2.3.2.2. Understanding of PBT principles

of project-based teaching. However, their awareness is limited, they
could hardly understand its nature, especially teaching pedagogical
skills in training primary school teacher with the aim of developing


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learners‟ professional capacity. Therefore, there should be incentives or
compulsory application of PBT and other effective teaching strategies
in teaching pedagogical skills.
Surveys, interviews and observations show that PBT is not
applied systematically in teaching pedagogical skills at primary school
teacher training institutions. Some institutions only use subject projects
that do not really reflect the nature of PBT and they have not yet
generalized into the methods, techniques of selecting and designing
projects and hands-on experiences at primary schools. Typical projects
associated with the current innovation of education such as teaching by
topic, professional activities in the format of "lesson study", capacitybased evaluation have not been selected and designed.
The difficulties and challenges of applying PBT in teaching
pedagogical skills shown in surveys, observations and interviews mean
that it is necessary to make changes in the regulation, management,
content and training programs. There must be detailed instruction,
training workshops and practice of teaching pedagogical skills at
primary schools. The number of teachers applying PBT in teaching
pedagogical skills is limited. Some teachers use PBT as a teaching
method but the project is still small, not typical in teaching pedagogical
skills. No guidance for using the knowledge of "Inter-discipline",
"transdisciplinary integration” in learning pedagogical skills is given for
students.
Chapter 2 – Conclusion
2.1. Although there are a few changes in contents of teaching

TEACHING PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS FOR STUDENTS OF
PRIMARY EDUCATION
3.1. Designing Project-based teaching activities in teaching
pedagogical skills
3.1.1. Instructing students to design learning projects
3.1.1.1. Supporting students in selecting project topics
a) Characteristics of teaching pedagogical skills in primary
school teacher training
- There are few interdisciplinary parts and many independent
parts
- Integration between theory and practice is not strong
- Practicality and professionalism is not high
- Experiencing activities are relatively simple
b) Some pedagogical topics to design learning projects
Almost all of pedagogical contents in subjects and courses can
be transformed into project topics if they are identified and addressed as


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professional skills of primary teachers. They can be common for many
teaching areas or specific for each subject. The pedagogical content in
the teaching methodology of each subject is very rich, most of which
can be transformed into skills. One or a group of skills can be project
topics, for example, Science lesson planning for primary students,
Experiential science teaching method, Conversational language
teaching method for primary students. Lecturers suggest a series of
topics for students to select through group discussion or their own way.
Lecturers can give advice when necessary.
c) Project content
The content of the project should be clarified: 1) What are the

3.2. Develop and implement a project-based procedure in learning
and teaching pedagogical skills
3.2.1. Project-based procedure in learning pedagogical skills
3.2.1.1. Read materials, collect necessary data
3.2.1.2. Assign individual and group tasks
3.2.1.3. Team work
3.2.1.4. Create the final product of the project
3.2.1.5. Evaluate project outputs and learning outcomes
3.2.2. Project-based procedure in teaching pedagogical skills
3.2.2.1. Group and assign tasks
3.2.2.2. Give guidance on implementing learning projects
3.2.2.3. Implement the projects
3.2.2.4. Report project outputs
3.2.3. Instruct, supervise the learning process
3.3. Project-based learning assessment measures
3.3.1. Self-assessment and peer evaluation in project implementation
3.3.1.1. Self-assessment
3.3.1.2. Peer evaluation
3.3.2. Evaluate project-based learning outcomes
3.3.2.1. Evaluate project outputs
3.3.2.2. Evaluate learning outcomes
3.4. Illustrate with some project designs and student activities
3.4.1. The skill of using questions in teaching at primary school
3.4.2. The skill of designing teaching methods at primary school
Chapter 3 - Conclusion
3.1. Project-based teaching methods for the teaching
pedagogical skills has clearly demonstrated the principles of PBT and
the requirement of teaching pedagogical skills is to focus on
professional skills. There are impacts on students' activities such as
cognitive, communication, experience, collaboration, evaluation, selfassessment, theoretical study, practice, independent project design and

highly skilled and experienced teachers who are qualified for
undergraduate education.
4.1.1.3. Scale and participants
The participants are freshman and sophomore at Faculty of
Primary Education (school year 2012-2016 and 2013-2017). They are
K37 and K38 students.
4.1.2. Experiment content and methodology
4.1.2.1. Experiment content


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Implementation of the project “Developing teaching methods
towards positive learning at primary schools” to assess the feasibility
and effectiveness of project-based methods for pedagogical skills
training; specifically, teaching the skill of developing methods for
teaching primary students. This is an important pedagogical skill.
The project “Developing teaching methods for primary
students” integrates contents of such subjects as Education and
Teaching Science for Primary Students Methodology. The project
duration includes 3 hours in class + 9 hours of group work (36 hours of
self study).
Through the project implementation, the experiment of methods
for pedagogical skills training are applied in developing teaching
methods is an important pedagogical skill that students need to
perceive. It is also to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of those
methods in real teaching and training.
4.1.2.2. Experiment methods, techniques, and procedures
a) Data collection
- Observation: Evaluating students‟ performance in employing
standard procedures and techniques for developing teaching methods,

4.2. Analyze experiment results
4.2.1. Evaluation techniques and tools
4.2.2. Experiment results
4.3. Experiment general evaluation
Experimental process uses a variety of tools and methods of
evaluation, with the participation of related parties (student selfassessment, assessment of the university lectures), initial qualitative and
quantitative results obtained is the basis for comments on the process of
training skills for developing teaching methods for project-based
methods for pedagogical skills training. The comments are as follows:
- The quantitative data on learning outcomes, training skills
results and the products of the training process, the research results
show that there are some progress made by students in both the control
group and experimental group. However, Students in the experimental
group make more progress, the proportion of students who meet the
basic requirement of proficiency is high and very high.
Students in the experimental group note only acquire
proficiency in using basic techniques to develop teaching methods, but
also enhance skill effectiveness in doing so. Their products of
developing teaching methods have met the requirement for innovation
in high schools; these products are highly evaluated by teachers and
managerial staff in high schools. In comparison with students in the
control group and students with lower level of training, students in the
experimental group also show great difference in workmanship.


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- Students in the experimental group are also in higher
inquisitive spirits. Students can choose to learn what they are interested
in and follow their own preferable learning styles. Moreover, using
project-based learning, students achieve multiple goals at the same time.

have to hand in their work for marks. In contrast, in project-based


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teaching, teachers have to suggest topics, plan the project-based
teaching with students, search information to direct students in choosing
leaning materials, design evaluation form, follow up the working
process to monitor and give help, etc. This is the most challenging part
that teachers have to overcome when using project-based teaching.
However, the experiment also shows that project-based teaching gives
students many benefits when they are trained to develop teaching
methods and many other working skills. The experiment results have
proved the feasibility and effectiveness of using project-based teaching
for pedagogical skills training through the training of developing
teaching methods. The results also support the science hypothesis
proposed.
Conclusion of chapter 4
4.1. The experiment results show that most pedagogical skills
can be taught using project-based model. It is important to have
appropriate measures and techniques. Teaching working skills is an
advantage of this project-based approach. It becomes even more
appropriate for pedagogical skills in teaching job.
4.2. Students gain a lot of vital social skills and values
important to the teaching profession such as collaborative skills, project
management skills, teamwork skills, social skills, conflict management
skills, interpersonal skills, etc. beside many valuable qualities through
experiment. Teaching pedagogical skills in individual subject hardly
helps students gain these qualities.
4.3. The experiment results also illustrate that methods of
teaching pedagogical skills have positive effect on students pedagogical

depends on traditional methods of teaching with less experience and
lack of practical application. In other words, students know the theory
of working skills more than having the real skills to work. There are no
effective strategies and methods for pedagogical skills training,
especially pedagogical skills.
Project-based teaching has not been applied much in
pedagogical schools. Some schools apply this method but it is topicbased teaching not truly project-based teaching. There is almost no
effective project-based teaching model in pedagogical skills training.
Lectures and students in pedagogical schools do understand theory
about project-based teaching, but they do not actively involve in the use
of this method. They point out the obstacles, mainly due to hard work
and the lack of time.
1.3. Project-based teaching for pedagogical skills training has
clearly demonstrated the principles of project-based teaching and that
the requirements of pedagogical skills training are to focus on
professional skills. There are effects on students' activities such as
cognition, communication, experience, collaborative working,


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assessment, self-assessment, theoretical study, practice, planning and
carrying out project independently. In project-based teaching for
pedagogical skills training, students are encouraged to take the center
role. The role of teacher is to consult and give suggestions in both
planning and carrying out the project. Students must work really hard
and throughout the project they need to self-evaluate and evaluate each
other, evaluate in group the working process and results basing on clear
criteria. Project-based learning assessments consist of two parts: 1)
Evaluate the intermediate and final product of the project; 2 / Evaluate
the specific learning outcomes that students must achieve through the