Abstract:

This paper presents a Project-Based Learning (PBL) experience implemented with undergraduate students in Early Childhood and Primary Education at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), aimed at fostering scientific, pedagogical, and sustainability-related competences through the monitoring of nest boxes for urban passerine birds. The experience integrates authentic ecological research with teacher education by engaging students in real scientific practices while reflecting on their didactic potential for future classroom application.

Within the project, students participate in all stages of a structured inquiry process: planning and carrying out field samplings, collecting and analysing data, inferring species presence from nest materials, and producing technical reports using a shared scientific template. Fieldwork follows a standardised and safe protocol (location of the nest box, controlled handling, photographic documentation and structured data entry), ensuring replicability and minimising disturbance to wildlife. This design allows students to experience first-hand how scientific knowledge is generated, validated and communicated.

From a pedagogical perspective, the PBL approach enhances student motivation, meaningful learning and knowledge transfer by explicitly connecting ecological theory, the scientific method and environmental education. Students adopt the role of practitioner-researchers, developing key professional competences for future teachers such as inquiry-based learning design, data literacy, collaborative work, and evidence-based reasoning. The project also supports the development of civic and environmental responsibility, dimensions that are often difficult to promote through exclusively lecture-based methodologies in initial teacher education.

The learning experience is supported by a longitudinal nest-box monitoring programme carried out by the URJC Green Office between 2021 and 2024, which provides a real, validated dataset for student analysis. This monitoring shows a sustained increase in nest occupancy and breeding success across university campuses, with 2024 being the most successful year recorded overall. Rather than focusing on detailed ecological outcomes, these data are used pedagogically to support hypothesis formulation, trend interpretation and discussion of management decisions related to urban biodiversity.

Building on previous results and recent maintenance actions, students formulate justified projections for subsequent breeding seasons and propose recommendations such as relocating low-performance nest boxes. During the spring campaign, additional samplings record recent occupation, eggs, nestlings and new nesting material, enabling the update of key indicators and the completion of the full PBL cycle from data collection to interpretation and decision-making.

The main contribution of this study lies in demonstrating how the integration of long-term real environmental data within a structured PBL framework enhances professional competences in pre-service teachers. It provides evidence that authentic, research-informed projects grounded in sustainability and urban ecology are an effective strategy for strengthening scientific thinking, pedagogical reflection and environmental education in initial teacher training programmes.

Keywords:

Environmental education, nest box monitoring, Project-Based Learning, urban biodiversity conservation, urban passerine breeding.