Reflection #2: Project Approach

A professional reflection based on project approach curriculum.

A project approach curriculum targeted at children in Nursery level, aged 4 provides the opportunity for them to lead their own learning. Given the autonomy to be able to direct their own learning will cultivate a positive overview towards learning as they are able to feed their curiosity and feel in control. In a project approach curriculum, children are involved from the planning, investigating and consolidating of information for the project with teacher’s facilitation. Vygotsky’ s zone of proximal development compliments this approach as children work on their prior knowledge and reach their maximum potential with the help of other knowledgeable peers (Feeney, et al., 2010). Katz & Chard stated that a project approach is a study of a topic of interest, led by children over a given time period (Katz & Chard, 2000). It centres on a topic – “Community Action Project” which provides children with the chance to direct their investigation during the course of the project as they learn how they can play an active role in their own community. The goal of this curriculum is to allow children to be independent learners and develop content-knowledge about real-world topics through the three phases of project approach. The project approach focuses on children’s active participation and assessment of their own work, instilling initiative and responsibility for the chosen topic.

There are three phases to a project approach over a given time frame. In phase one, children will discuss about their prior knowledge on the chosen topic. Thereafter, teachers will send out an introductory letter about the project (topic, time line, take-home activity) to the parents. Teachers act as facilitators to ensure that children’s discussion is not too broad for them to investigate over the next few weeks. In phase two, children will have the issues that they would like to investigate further, therefore Teachers will provide opportunities such as representation of ideas through drawing, writing or even dramatisation. Children will also get the opportunity to conduct their research through interviews with real community helpers in the field when they visit an a site for excursion during this phase. Teachers will continue to observe and document the learning process so that children get to reflect and consolidate in phase three before they put up a presentation for parents at the end of the time frame. It is important to keep to the timeline during the course of the project, as the it has been established in the introductory letter to parents in phase one.

A curriculum web comprising a brainstorm web done with the children and a subject web

which will explain the overview of the topic to help guide the project towards its goal. There are three integrated lesson plans to describe how the project will be carried out and what materials will be used for each lesson. At the end of the project, parents will be invited to visit the classroom for a walk-through where the process of learning has been documented and displayed. Children will be in their small groups and take turns to present the different phases of the project and share their experiences and understanding of the topic.

As a curriculum leader, the development of this curriculum model speaks to my philosophy of teaching. I believe that children are full of curiosity and should be able to seek new information independently to build on their prior knowledge of a certain topic. My experience conducting a project approach curriculum, has motivated me to encourage children to take initiative and responsibility in their own learning process. The project approach holds many benefits for children’s holistic development such as literacy and creative skills through children’s representation of ideas, intellectual and social dispositions towards life-long learning, high quality work through active participation, intrinsic motivation and meaningful engagement (Chard, 1998). It also challenges children in critical thinking and develops their problem-solving skills for cognitive development. Most importantly, field work provides opportunity for children to apply and use the information they have gathered in real-life situations. It also encourages home-school partnership especially when parents are involved in helping children be part of their own community during the second phase of the project.

The project approach is aligned with the developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). NAEYC has three core considerations of developmentally appropriate practices (NAEYC, 2009). It is a framework designed for children’s holistic development. Firstly, it focuses on child development and learning. Secondly, it uses the environment and it is appropriate for each individual child’s interest, abilities and developmental progress. Finally, with an appropriate topic – “Community Action Project”, children are able to engage in meaningful learning experiences as they discover their role in the community that they live in together with their families. In addition to DAP, the project approach also meets the criteria of the curriculum framework developed by the Ministry of Education, Singapore called Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) (Ministry of Education, 2012).

The possible challenges I foresee my teachers and I would face when implementing this curriculum model are experience, resources and time. Teachers who will be conducting a project approach curriculum should understand the structural features and phases which are essential to the curriculum model. New teachers who are not used to conducting a project approach curriculum needs to undergo training or shadow an experienced teacher for the course of an entire project so that she can carry out her own lessons in future with confidence. As there is an extensive list of topics which children might be interested in when embarking on a new project, teachers should keep in mind the available resources prior to the planning phase. This is to avoid the project being halted due to lack or insufficient resources which will result in a compromise of children’s learning process.

Additionally, when a topic has been chosen, teachers should facilitate children’s investigation and research in phase two to keep in line with what they want to find out instead of diverting away from their prior discussion in phase one. The final challenge is time – in phase one of the project, Teachers have already sent out the introductory letter to parents about the project. In the letter, there will be a stipulated timeline which Teachers will have to keep to throughout the course. This would mean if teachers were to be on leave, there has to be a contingency plan to ensure the project stays its course. Should there be more than one teacher during the project work, both teachers should be in sync with the direction of children’s learning process.

References

Katz, L. G. & Chard, S. C., 2000. Engaging children's minds: The project approach. 2nd ed. Stamford, Connecticut: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Chard, S., 1998. Project approach: developing curriculum with children. New York: Scholastic.

NAEYC, 2009. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. [Online] Available at: https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/PSDAP.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2019].

Ministry of Education, 2012. Nurturing early learners: A curriculum framework for kindergartens in Singapore. [Online] Available at: https://www.nel.sg/nel/slot/u566/Resources/Downloadable/pdf/kindergarten-curriculum-framework.pdf [Accessed 30 April 2019].