Development and effectiveness of PBL-based transportation technology education program to cultivate creative problem-solving ability of middle school students

Objectives In this study, we developed a PBL-based transportation technology education program and applied it to middle school students to investigate the effects of the developed program on middle school students' creative problem-soving ability and the sub-factors that constitute creative problem-solving ability. Methods To achieve the objectives of the study, the study was conducted according to the procedures of the ADDIE model. First, a draft of a PBL-based transportation technology education program was developed, improved, and finalized through expert validation and preliminary application in the stages of ‘analysis’, ‘design’, and ‘development’. In the process, the PBL model by Sangbong Yi, Hasom Jeon(2023) and the problem development criteria by Taewoo Kim, Sangbong Yi(2015) were reflected for the systematic design of the program. The CPSPI, developed by Hwasun Lee, Jeongmin Pyo, and Insoo Choi(2014), was modified and supplemented to fit the middle school students in the study, and the reliability and expert validity were verified. Next, in the ‘Implementation’ and ‘Evaluation’ stages, 38 middle school students in the third grade were surveyed in a quasi-experimental design, and data were collected and analyzed using a single-group pre and post test and a class satisfaction survey. Results Before and after the application of the PBL-based transportation technology education program, the creative problem-solving ability of middle school students improved, with the post-test mean being 0.71 points higher than the pretest mean (t=-5.633, p=.000). When comparing the pretest and post-test results for the sub-factors comprising creative problem-solving, the mean scores increased by at least 0.53 points, with t values ranging from a minimum of -3.682 (p=.001) to a maximum of -5.631 (p=.000). Therefore, at the significance level of .05, there is a statistically significant difference in the creative problem-solving ability of middle school students and its sub-factors before and after the application of the developed PBL-based transportation technology education program. Conclusions First, the lesson plans, teacher presentations, student portfolios, and assessment tools were developed to be suitable for applying PBL in the field of transportation technology with transportation and logistics as content elements. Second, the PBL-based transportation technology education program developed in this study has a positive effect on the development of middle school students' creative problem-solving ability and its sub-factors.