Project Approach Final Paper

ECE 140 Curriculum Planning

Hannah Heissel
November 2015

Introduction:
Projects are described as open ended studies of an everyday topic that are
worthy of being included in educational programs. Projects emerge from childrens
questions and develop from their particular interests. Teachers provide children
with experiences where children can discover the answers themselves by going to
field sites and interviewing experts. (Katz LG & Chard, 2000) The purpose of this
paper is to show knowledge and understanding of the three phases involved with
the Project Approach method by describing each phase, the benefits, and the
disadvantages.
Phase I:
Phase I begins through the interests of the children through investigations
and discussions. The teacher will create a topic web that will help anticipate
directions the investigation could take and different ways to relate the topic to
the local curriculum requirements and district standards. In addition to creating a
topic web, the teacher also assesses the availability of the resources, potential
expert visitors, and field sites to visit. After the topic is determined, the teacher
is to involve the students in discussing their own experiences and understanding of
the chosen topic. The children will then generate their own topic web that they will
use for their investigation. After their discussions and topic web, the children,

with the help of the teacher will create questions about their topic that their
investigation will answer. Once the topic is chosen and the children know what they
want to know and learn, the room has been prepared with materials and equipment,
the class is ready to move into Phase II.
Phase II:
In phase two the opportunities for children to go to a field site and talk to experts
is arranged by the teacher. The teacher provides children and families with
resources to help them with their investigations such as real objects, books, and
other materials. To represent what a child has learned, they are involved in
representing what they are learning and can work at their own level. Working at
their own level is defined as their basic skills, constructions, drawing, music, and
dramatic play. The teacher also enables the children to be aware of all the
different work being done through class group discussions and displays. Content
webs made in phase one provide the teacher, children, and visitors with
documentation of the project.
Phase III:
After visiting field sites and communicating with an expert in the topic, the
teacher figures out a way that the children can share with others what they

learned about their topic. Children can help with sharing their learning by featuring
the highlights of the project for others such as other classes, parents, staff, and
the community. The teacher helps the children select what material to share and
involves children purposefully in evaluating and reviewing the project. Also, the
teacher suggests imaginative ways to personalize the childrens knowledge through
art, stories, and drama. At the end of the project the teacher uses the childrens
ideas and interests to transition onto the next project.
Benefits:
There are many benefits that come from the project approach. The project
approach benefits a childs social and emotional development by allowing the
children to take responsibility in the project and be self-regulated. Children are
able to define their own goals and evaluate their own accomplishments while
strengthening their problem solving. They are also able to initiate, investigate and
follow through on their interests. Children are able to show ownership and improve
their communication. Families can be involved in their childs project by
volunteering to go on field site visits, or bringing in artifacts. Parents can help by
allowing their children to learn at home. Communicating with families and
collaborating with the community improves a childs communication. Documentation
is easily displayed through families by providing pictures and work samples from

work done at home. Children develop milestones by representing an activity, taking

the perspective of others, categorizing objects and classifying familiar objects.
When they develop milestones their intellectual growth grows rapidly. The Project
Approach strengthens a childs reading and writing skills and the children are
highly motivated to show others what they have learned. Problem solving is also
increased as children are challenged in mathematics and scientific thinking along
with classifying and sorting different objects. Children learn how to use tools and
generate questions through this process. Their problem solving ability happens
naturally. Projects also contribute to a childs short and long term academic and
social development, help a child master basic reading, language and math skills, and
also increases their creativity and imagination.
Disadvantages/Issues:
Not only are there benefits of the project approach, there are
disadvantages. Not every interest that becomes a topic will become a good project,
this is where the teacher would need to ask herself after thought and planning, is
this project worthwhile? Projects are also hard to get everyone interested in the
same topic at first, but if the teacher works to make the topic interesting to
other children, the project will succeed. Some projects may not be able to be
planned for all subjects and the whole subject matter couldnt be taught by the

project approach. Another disadvantage of the project approach is having part

time classes, where children who are there in the morning miss out on what goes on
in the afternoon.
Personal Reflection:
Personally I think I would enjoy doing projects in my future classroom. After
gaining more knowledge about the project approach I feel that I have a better
understanding of how to implement projects in a classroom and expand future
students interests.
Conclusion:
Despite the disadvantages of the project approach, the benefits make up
for them. By having a project in your classroom you are finding the interests in
your classroom and expanding them so your students are able to learn not only
more about the topic, but other things involved with their topic.