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New research demonstrates that the PBL strategies used by Defined STEM help students understand concepts more deeply than traditional instruction does, resulting in better performance on a wide range of assessments. Teachers reported marked improvement in the depth of students’ discussions and their problem-solving skills. 

The meaningful and authentic tasks presented by Defined STEM Learning support student development of real-world skills and analytical thinking. In these projects, students are told that they are in the role of a real-world job, and are given a real-world problem to solve while collaborating with their peers. These tasks increase engagement by showing how the material learned can be applied to a future career, which allows students to imagine themselves on that career path.

According to the research, this increased engagement resulted in students performing better on both standardized assessments and project tests than students in traditional direct-instruction programs.