A project is an extended, in-depth investigation of a topic, ideally one worthy of the children’s attention and energy. In other words, projects involve children in conducting research on phenomena and events worth learning about in their own environments.
Projects provide contexts in which children can apply a wide variety of social and intellectual skills in, addition to the basic academic skills being learned in the more formal parts of the curriculum. Thus, in this exhibit the efforts of very young children to write and to represent in other ways the data gathered during their investigations can be seen. In addition, projects provide contexts for young children to argue, cooperate, collaborate, share the responsibility of data gathering, check findings and many other research strategies. Projects also provoke children to in-depth probing into the nature of events and objects around them, to learning how things work and how they are made, to finding out who does what and what tools are used, to discovering the sequences in which actions are taken in the events investigated, and to observing and describing the work done by people in their own everyday worlds. Projects can also involve children in close examination of the natural world around them, help them learn what natural world objects consist of, and teach them to observe closely how things grow and change over time.
Projects can be incorporated into the curriculum in any part of the world. Every environment and the people in it are potential sources of new and valuable information for young children. The knowledge gained and the skills applied in investigating their own experiences supports children’s in-born dispositions to learn and investigate what is at hand. Furthermore, knowledge and skills of all kinds are strengthened, not only with instruction, but also through application and use of the kind of skills seen in these examples of project work.
It is useful to keep in mind that young children may come to their school experiences with different kinds and amounts of exposure to books and stories and encouragement to try to read, to counting objects and using pencils, and so forth. However, all children come to school with lively minds marked by a powerful disposition to make the best sense they can of their experiences. Projects provide rich contexts for expressing and strengthening that fundamental disposition. We hope these examples of the work of children and their teachers provoke your interest in learning more about the Project Approach.
To provide support to theoretical studies, school conducts project exhibitions and educational tour time to time to enhance project based learning.