| Sumario: | Project-based learning (PBL) is defined a student-centered pedagogy that involves solving authentic problems so that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. PBL has been suggested as experiential learning strategies to enhance undergraduate nutrition education in which there is a high demand for dietetic industries. The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of PBL on college students' competencies (learning motivation and problem-solving ability) and career aspirations in South Korea. This quasi-experimental one-group pre- and post-test design was used to compare the mean scores on students' learning outcomes. A total of 30 junior college students majoring in food and nutrition participated. An eight-week PBL approach for a Food Projection Management course was designed, and the course was comprised of an introduction of the project, group presentations, food production project implementation, and project evaluation. Research questionnaires consist of learning motivation, problem-solving ability, and career aspiration in food and nutrition industries. After the data screening process, a total of 26 responses were used for data analysis. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired t-test used to compare pre-post mean scores of competencies. Results were considered significant at p<0.01 The average age of the participants was 22.0±0.5 (years), and the majority of participants were female (88%). The results showed post-test mean scores of learning motivation and problem-solving ability competencies were higher than pre-test scores (p value < 0.001). In terms of career aspirations, there was statistically significant improvement in the post-tests (pre-test 3.75±0.16, post- test 3.88±0.26). These results suggest that PBL could be more effective for students in improving their academic achievement and food and nutrition career aspirations. It is important for nutrition and dietetic instructors to apply PBL on dietetic and nutrition courses. Future studies need to focus on validating the effectiveness of PBL under different student populations and conditions. None
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