LAI 506
Foundations of Early Childhood Education
THE PROJECT APPROACH:
An Overview
The Project Approach is viewed as a model that emphasizes student-centered projects rather than teacher-centered instruction. This model helps make learning relevant to students by establishing connections to life outside the classroom and by investigating real world issues (Katz & Chard, 2000).
From a sociocultural perspective, as children participate in a wide variety of joint activities and incorporate within themselves the effects of working together, they obtain new strategies and knowledge of their world and culture (Feng, 1989).
"Learning awakens a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and with his peers…. learning is not development; however, properly organized learning results in mental development and sets in motion a variety of developmental processes that would be impossible apart from learning. Thus learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human, psychological functions" Lev S. Vygotksy (1978)
Jean Piaget identified people as the primary source for social knowledge. The child should interact with others to gain social understanding. (Turiel, 1983). Participating in conversation strengthens a child's ability to communicate effectively, express themselves and exercise reason (Katz & Chard, 2000).
Because children of primary grade are becoming intensely interested in their peers, establishing positive social and working relationships with classmates is beneficial as it lays the groundwork for developing a sense of social competence methods.
When children work together as a group, learning is enhanced and enriched. Each child contributes their own unique knowledge and perspective to the collective whole, creating a sense of community and democracy. Because project work often addresses real world issues, subjects such as equity, fairness, and civic responsibility are introduced and discussed. Providing students with the opportunity to pilot their own learning fosters a sense of agency. It empowers them to become active in their own education and makes learning meaningful.
The following link is an example of project work that incorporates student interest within a sociocultural framework.
SOCIOCULTURAL
CONTEXTS
"Project Katrina"
Click the photo
Rogoff (1990) writes, “Children's cognitive development is an apprenticeship—it occurs through guided participation in social activity with companions who support and stretch children's understanding of and skill in using the tools of the culture” (p. vii).