Hi fellow PROJECTS-L members!
Welcome to our newly introduced members:
Ellen Edge Amherst, Massachusetts USA
Suzy Joseloff Connecticutt USA
Annette Frontz USA
Carolyn Cogswell USA
Barb Gallick Normal, Illinois USA
What to talk about this week?
I guess three areas mainly:
1. What is a project and what is not a project?
2. Is it heresy to do a project on fairy tales, dinosaurs, dragons... etc.?
3. Distinction between Project Approach and Reggio Emilia?
1. Lilian Katz and I would like to reaffirm the importance of systematic instruction having a complementary role in children's education alongside project work.
In projects there is a good deal of incidental learning as well as learning which contributes to the development of the whole child. In addition it is important to provide for children to acquire specific skills and knowledge through systematic instruction (at least to be consistent with the way education is currently managed in North America). Project work is much more about the application of skills and knowledge which the children have already acquired, last week, last month or last year.
Systematic instruction in the elementary grades is about specific learner expectations, grade level standards (or whatever term you use in your district), it involves normative assessment. Project work is about more a wide range of more general educational outcomes: evidence of understanding, approaches to work showing creative higher order thinking, collaborative teamwork strategies and developing personal strengths.
We believe that systematic instruction and projects are complementary in that children need both for a well balanced general educational experience.
2. Is it heresy to do a project on fairy tales, dinosaurs, dragons... etc.?
Suzy Joseloff writes:
"For instance, we might use traditional fairy tales to create a fantasy world in our dramatic play area, or one year I had a class that was so fascinated with dinosaurs that we went to a natural history museum and then studied, questioned, and created our own dinosaur museum at school. Is this heresy to do a project on the distant past (which young children can't begin to grasp) or somthing pretend like dragons, castles, kings and queens??"
I am afraid that I sometimes sound as though I have some fixed idea about what a project should be. This comes, I guess, from an unwillingness to repeat the mistakes of the past (1960s-70s). We do not want to resurrect an image similar to that of 'open education' as an 'unstructured' teaching approach where teachers have an 'anything goes' approach to curriculum. So our description of a pedagogical framework for productive project work has been limited to a definition of projects as the in-depth study of real world topics. However, the many activities associated with any project can include a variety of imaginative, expressive and creative activities, music, movement, literature, drama, etc. which have some relationship to the topic being studied. But that topic is most valuable insofar as it can offer opportunities to investigate and make sense of the real world.
We believe teachers can manage a complex program which can include several elements which each have their own educational purpose and value. So there can be systematic instruction, spontaneous play, music, drama, art, physical education activities which may be quite separate from the project work and may each have their own instructional purposes and processes. Project work can be connected to any of these where there is an easy connection to be made.
We do NOT wish to create in any of our writing about the project approach a particular 'gospel' (repeat 'NOT') which can be interpreted fundamentally to lead to the notion of 'heresies.' Thank you, Suzy, for offering me this opportunity to reassert this position. We have chosen in our work to describe teaching through projects as an approach rather than a method in order to imply just this flexibility. We have seen many different projects which were successful in different ways.
The structural framework we have suggested is designed to offer a way to help teachers systematically to focus children's attention on a topic of study. This framework proposes a three phase structure similar to that of a good story, having a beginning, a middle and an end. Within this framework we suggest ways that certain structural features (discussion, fieldwork, investigation, representation, and display) can help a teacher ensure that projects are optimally productive and memorable. We are concerned to support teachers in their practical daily planning, implementation, management, assessment and evaluation because we consider projects to be such an important and valuable part of the curriculum.
Does this help, Suzy?
3. Distinction between Project Approach and Reggio Emilia?
Reggio Emilia has developed a wonderful range of integrated early childhood education practices. Projects are part of what they are concerned with and known for. Our work with projects predates our first acquaintance with Reggio. Mine especially emerges from a different cultural background and experience, that of teaching in England in the 1970s together with a historical perspective on and critical analysis of the failure of 'open education' to serve the needs of those North American teachers of a previous era. Since 1989, since I came to Canada, I have learned much more about the in-service needs of teachers interested in integrating project work into their regular elementary school classrooms.
Well folks, I hope that gives you a better picture of where I am coming from in my contributions to the discussion on this list. The more we understand each other's perspectives the better we can help each other and children, develop project work with insight and pedagogical understanding. We all still have so much to learn!
Have a good week ...and keep these interesting and provocative messages coming!
(Mar 11 '96)