Is the Project Approach helpful to the developmental learning of children?

1. Project
Approach
Melissa Christoffel
SOE 115 Psychology of Teaching and Learning

2. OVERVIEW OF THE STRATEGY
The Project Approach is a set of teaching strategies that enable teachers to guide
students through an interactive process of in-depth studies of real world topics (Chard
2014). It offers teachers a way to develop thinking skills in children, while engaging
their hearts and minds. These projects, when implemented by teachers successfully,
get students highly motivated and actively involved in their own learning process. It
makes children feel that their ideas are valued while encouraging their creativity. It
nurtures their interests and meets their needs for learning. This in turn, leads them to
grow as individuals and collaborators that produce high quality work. The work that is
done in the Project approach is an in depth investigation in to a topic which attracts
the students attention. It is a three phase process that can be carried out by the whole
class or with small groups at anytime. The investigations into the topic typically do not
constitute a whole program, but teachers most often use them alongside other
curricular goals.

3. Phase 1
Exploring Previous Experiences
First, either the teacher or the students come with a topic of interest to explore. After that, the children brainstorm about what
they already know about the topic. They describe their memories and experiences concerning the topic; and, then categorize and
label these experiences. To do this, they may use memory drawings, stories, or concept maps of ideas or charting.
Phase 2
Investigating the Topic
During this phase, the children make predictions, ask questions, and form hypotheses just as scientists would if conducting a
lab experiment. The students designate different tasks to perform amongst one another; and, they write out the materials which
need to be collected in order to carry out the experiment. They also write questions to ask the experts of the topic. The students
may investigate and find out more about a topic by listening to stories and informational texts and reading secondary sources.
They, then, compare what was read with what the experts had to say. Lastly, the children record their findings and data of the
investigation.
Phase 3
Sharing the Project with Parents and Others
The kids present the information learned through PowerPoint, charts, and displays. They write reports or plays to demonstrate
their new understanding of the topic. They may even host event which showcases what they have learned.
Plan a topic Research a topic Show what you learned
Images from
google.com

4. Credible Source #1 THEORY
According to their website, projectapproach.org, the Project Approach evolved from a
desire to help students participate in and contribute to a democratic society. They believe
that within a Constructivist-based theoretical framework, the Project Approach stands on
the following beliefs (PATEN, 2014).
First all children come to school with a quest to understand their experiences; all
children want to learn. Second, school is life, and teachers and students should experience
their time in school as real life rather than seeing these two as separate and unrelated.
Next, students construct their own knowledge but also need teachers to facilitate and
guide this process. They believe that students have diverse strengths, weaknesses,
interests, and backgrounds, and capitalizing on these differences enables students to
learn from each other and to grow as individuals. That students learn best when they
have a positive self-esteem and sense of purpose. They also believe that students learn
through a mixture of first-hand observation, hands-on experience, systematic instruction,
and personal reflection. That teaching and learning are interactive processes and that
social and emotional skills are as important as academic skills and knowledge. Finally the
website for the project approach states that they believe that all classrooms are flexible
learning spaces that support and adapt to student needs.
Image from google.com

5. Credible Source #2
Benefits
of the Project
Approach
According to Eunju Yun in her article
called The Project Approach as a Way of
Making Life Meaningful in the Classroom;
The Project Approach complements play, on
one hand, and academic learning on the
other. It is more formal than play in the earlier
part of early childhood and more informal
than systematic instruction in the later part of
early childhood. One of the benefits of the
Project Approach is that it is intellectual. It
lets children use intellect, such as creativity
and critical thinking. Another benefit is the
social aspect, children learn to work in groups
and form relationships with peers. It also
teaches children investigative skills and
different ways to look at the world around
them. Lastly according to Yun project work
can be seen as ontological or existential as
well as social and intellectual (Yun,2006).

6. Credible source #3
As with any teaching strategy approach or method, there are only
positive results when the teaching is done well. For the Project
Approach some of the challenges that teachers might face are being
able to guide the children with open-ended questions and not give
away the answers. The teachers also have to have a good working
knowledge of the children and the topics they are teaching. If this is
not present the class will not progress. In an article written by, Ann-
Marie Clark in her article Changing Classroom Practice to Include
the Project Approach, she states; “It is easier to set up learning
centers with activities, worksheets, and boxes of props which are the
same each year. It is easier to read the same fantasy literature and
have the children play the parts of the characters in dramatic play
year after year. In the project approach teachers rely on rich
communication with the children to determine their interests and
prior level of understanding. If this is not there the program will fail.”
(Clark, A. 2006). To sum it all up teachers using this approach work
twice as hard to make experience meaningful.
Issues with the
Project
Approach

7. Analysis
The Project approach is quite a complicated teaching strategies. However, the
authors of the articles that I read appeared to all agree with each other on the
benefits of the strategies. They all agreed that it promotes learning in areas of
creativity, critical thinking and social skills. Some of the even went on to say that the
can promote language, math and writing.
Something special that one of the authors did talk about how the project approach
can be seen as ontological or existential as well as social and intellectual. I had never
heard of onthological or existential on until this article in regards to education.

8. Connections
After reading the text and watching all the
videos, I have to say that the biggest connection
that I see that The Project approach has with
Educational Psychology is the development of
metacognition. Metacognition is thinking about
one's thinking. In other words, it refers to the
processes used to plan, monitor, and assess
one's understanding and performance. It
includes a critical awareness of one's thinking
and learning and oneself as a thinker and
learner. The project approach help children
achieve this kind of learning. It causes them to
think about what they know and what they
want to know and what they will do with the
knowledge when they get it.
Below is a video
about
The Project
Approach
Video taken from youtube.com

9. Communications with FamiliesIf I had a family that asked me about the Project Approach, based on my research I would
probably respond this way….
The Project Approach is a kind of curriculum that teachers use to provide real life
experiences to the children in their classroom. They ask the class what they would like to
learn about. Then they pick or take a vote and research the topic. During the research part
the teacher or children might bring in things that can be explored. The class can also take a
field trip to expand on the topic or have a visitor come in and talk to the class. The children
then have discussions, with the teacher and each other, about what they are learning and
what they want to learn more about and the teacher expands on that. The research part of
this could take a day, a week or a couple of weeks for the children to gain complete
knowledge about the subject. Then the teacher will have the children present what they
learned by drawing a picture and talking about it or making a presentation if they are older.
Then they pick a new topic and start over.

10. Conclusion
Learning is about making connections, whether the connections are
established by purposeful or non-purposeful learning. In the Project
approach, I think that it provides meaningful life experiences that foster
learning. It gives children the opportunity to look at the world around them
and make connections from school to home to community and then to the
world we live in. It helps children develop intellectual skills like creativity
and critical thinking skill as well as social skills. The project approach does
this by having children learn about things that interest them, working in
groups and thinking about what they are thinking.

11. References
Chard, S. C. (2013, April 30). The Project Approach to Teaching and Learning. Retrieved May 17,
2017, from http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2013/the-project-
approach-to-teaching-and-learning
Chard, S. C. (2014). What is The Project Approach? Retrieved May 16, 2017, from
http://projectapproach.org/about/project-approach/
Chard, S. C. & Katz, L. (n.d.). The Project Approach. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from
http://ece205.wikispaces.com/Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard %26 The Project Approach
Clark, A. (2006). Changing Classroom Practice to Include the Project Approach. Retrieved May
16, 2017, from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v8n2/clark.html, Appalachian State University
Project Approach Teacher Educator Network (PATEN). (2014). What is The Project Approach?
Retrieved May 18, 2017, from http://projectapproach.org/about/project-approach/
Yun, E. (2000, October 31). The Project Approach as a Way of Making Life Meaningful in the
Classroom. Retrieved May 17, 2017, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED470896