Best questions for teacher survey about project-based learning

Here are some of the best questions for a teacher survey about project-based learning, plus tips on how to design them for maximum insight and engagement. You can easily generate your own conversational survey using Specific—built in seconds, refined with AI.

Best open-ended questions for teacher survey about project-based learning

Open-ended questions are the backbone of qualitative surveys. They let teachers speak in their own words, revealing insights beyond checkboxes or rating scales. While they can have higher nonresponse rates—Pew Research Center reports an average of 18%, with some open-ended questions exceeding 50% nonresponse, as opposed to just 1–2% for closed-ended questions—they are unmatched for depth and color. Teachers’ lived experiences and stories bring project-based learning (PBL) challenges and successes to life, making these questions a must when you want narrative detail and honest, unscripted feedback.[1]

1. In your experience, what are the greatest benefits of using project-based learning with your students?

2. Can you describe a recent project-based learning activity that worked particularly well in your classroom?

3. What obstacles have you faced when implementing project-based learning, and how did you overcome them?

4. How do students respond to project-based learning compared to traditional teaching methods?

5. Which subjects or topics do you find are best suited for project-based learning, and why?

6. What skills have your students developed through project-based learning that you don’t see from more conventional approaches?

7. Describe any support or resources you wish you had for making project-based learning easier or more impactful.

8. How do you assess student learning and progress during project-based activities?

9. What kinds of collaboration occur during your PBL activities (between students, colleagues, or community)?

10. In what ways would you like to see project-based learning evolve at your school or district?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for teacher survey about project-based learning

Single-select multiple-choice questions are essential when you want to quantify teacher sentiment, surface patterns, or give respondents a gentle starting point. For survey-takers, it can feel easier to react to a list of options rather than generate an answer from scratch. You can follow with deeper qualitative questions to get the story behind the response.

Example questions:

Question: How often do you use project-based learning approaches in your teaching?

• Never

• Rarely

• Sometimes

• Often

• Always

Question: Which of the following is your biggest challenge with project-based learning?

• Lack of time for planning

• Limited resources/materials

• Assessment difficulties

• Student engagement

• Other

Question: How confident do you feel implementing project-based learning methods?

• Not confident at all

• Somewhat unconfident

• Neutral

• Somewhat confident

• Very confident

When to follow up with “why?” A “why” follow-up is ideal when someone selects a response that could mean different things in practice. For example, if a teacher says “student engagement” is the biggest challenge, following up with “Why do you think student engagement is an obstacle for you?” can reveal actionable details that you might miss otherwise.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Sometimes teachers have unique situations or needs that weren’t listed. Including “Other” opens the door for surprises, and follow-up questions after selecting “Other” help uncover insights you didn’t anticipate—but need to hear.

NPS question for teacher survey about project-based learning

An NPS (Net Promoter Score)–style question asks teachers, “How likely are you to recommend project-based learning to a colleague?” on a scale from 0 to 10. This widely used metric goes beyond satisfaction; it captures advocacy and buy-in—essential for measuring the grassroots momentum of new teaching strategies. It’s easy to deploy and benchmark, and by following up on extreme scores, you learn what drives evangelists and skeptics alike. Try this tailored NPS question for PBL teacher surveys to gather quantitative and qualitative feedback in tandem.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are where the magic happens. You can read more about automated follow-up questions to see their impact on conversational surveys. These are not robotic scripts; Specific’s AI dynamically asks smart, relevant follow-ups based on the teacher’s previous responses—mimicking an expert interviewer, in real time. This not only enriches your dataset, but also improves response rates and data quality. A Journal of Extension study found that a timely follow-up can boost response rates significantly—up to 46%—compared to much lower rates for delayed contacts.[2] Plus, when you’re collecting qualitative input, follow-ups are essential for clarifying ambiguous answers and drilling into the “why” or “how.”

• Teacher: “We struggle with student engagement.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share a specific example or situation where engaging students proved difficult during a project-based activity?”

How many follow-ups to ask? For most surveys, two or three follow-ups are enough to balance depth with time commitment. With Specific, you can set a limit, or enable skip-to-next behavior once the required context is gathered.

This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a static form, the survey becomes a natural, back-and-forth exchange—making it truly conversational and much more engaging.

Easy AI analysis of open-ended feedback: Don’t worry about “too much unstructured text.” With AI-powered response analysis, you can summarize, extract key themes, and query your data instantly—even for long-form answers.

Conversational AI follow-ups are new, but transformative. Try generating a PBL teacher survey and experience it firsthand.

Prompts to get great teacher survey questions with ChatGPT or GPT-4

We love using AI for brainstorming. Here’s the simplest prompt to start:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for teacher survey about project-based learning.

But you always get better results if you include more context: share who you are, what your goal is, and details about your teaching environment. This helps GPT (or any AI) tailor its advice. For example:

I work as a curriculum lead at a middle school interested in scaling project-based learning across our grades. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a survey to send to teachers, focused on challenges, required support, and perceived student outcomes.

Once you have a draft, use AI to organize your ideas:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Identify your priority categories, then dig deeper in those areas:

Generate 10 questions for categories student engagement, required resources, and assessment strategies.

With a few prompt tweaks, you can quickly surface a robust set of questions—then refine them in our own AI survey builder as needed.

What is a conversational survey (AI survey example vs manual)

A conversational survey is designed to feel like a natural conversation. Thanks to advances in AI survey generation, this is no longer just a fancy chatbot—it’s an interactive, research-grade interview that adapts in real time. Traditional surveys are flat and linear, but an AI survey example engages teachers like a skilled interviewer, asking clarifying questions, probing for details, and surfacing challenges as they emerge. There’s mountains of research showing how conversational surveys, especially when powered by AI, yield cleaner, clearer, and more specific data compared to old-school forms—for example, a field study found that AI-powered surveys prompted more informative and relevant answers, which drives real classroom impact.[3]

Why use AI for teacher surveys? It’s simple: AI-driven surveys save time, improve data quality, adapt to each respondent, and let you focus on what matters—supporting great teaching, not wrestling with forms. Our guide to creating PBL teacher surveys has step-by-step instructions for both beginners and power users.

Specific delivers the best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys—making the feedback loop engaging for teachers and lightning fast for school leaders.

See this project-based learning survey example now

Ready to uncover rich, practical insights from teachers about project-based learning? See how easy it is to create a conversational, AI-powered survey. Get the answers you need—fast, deep, and organized, unlocking the true potential of your PBL efforts.