AN INVESTIGATION ON THE PROJECT-BASED LEARNING OF MATHEMATICALLY GIFTED ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

The paper is to investigate the project-based learning of elementary mathematically gifted fourth graders. It is a case-study. There are 21 students in the class and the teacher has 18 years of teaching experiences. The research period is 11 weeks. We prove that, through a comprehensive course structure, students can experience the praxis of project-based learning. The course significantly facilitates students' cooperative learning ability and communication/sharing ability. There is also an improvement in their critical thinking ability, even though less than two above abilities. However, students do not make much progress in their problem-solving ability. We propose three teaching strategies in amending the course to assist students to develop their ability on solving the "driving question".