Projects Programming

The goal of these programs is to let children learn by experimentation, exploration, and collaboration. Teachers and their charges tie the work they do in the classroom to real-world experiences and lessons. They play with materials that inspire exploration and pretend play, such as blocks and art supplies, and take lots of community field trips.
 

By introducing children to extension activities related to their studies, the project approach looks to accomplish four kinds of learning goals:

• to increase knowledge of fundamental concepts by making them interesting to learn about

• to improve behavior by allowing children to learn independently and in cooperation with fellow students

• to improve dispositions about learning

• to discourage negative attitudes that might hinder the educational process

In a projects-based program, children work independently. The teacher serves as a guide, providing advice or help when needed but largely standing back and letting the children decide how to handle a problem themselves. The children negotiate with their teacher about the rules and directions for the project, and what they want to accomplish with it. They learn to apply the skills acquired earlier, and develop associations between those skills and how they can be used in the world outside the classroom. Children also tend to become more interested in a topic when they feel they can be actively involved in learning about it, instead of just being lectured on the subject.
 

Children also get a chance to showcase more of their unique skills and proficiencies than they would with more traditional instructional learning. These programs emphasize educating the "whole child," including physical, emotional, cognitive, and social growth.
—Richard Jeter, Early Childhood Today