((The Hebrew University of Jerusalme, Israel)

Abstract: Successful pedagogical change is notoriously difficult. We attempted to a pedagogical change in one Israeli elementary school, leading teachers to implement a project-based learning model. Our study used rich data sources and an ethnographic approach to understand schooling before, during and after the intervention. We observed a pattern of “dualism”, in which contradicting elements co-exist side-by-side. Our findings highlight the need to acknowledge the competing forces operating in a system while adopting a change.