Kukai Kindergarten's English Program

Read Project Approach Thai version by Daily News

Beginning with this month and the months ahead, you will be hearing quite a lot about Project Approach. We here at Kukai believe that the project approach method of learning is highly effective. We would love to provide you with some details about how project approach learning takes place and what it includes. So here we go!

Project Approach is literally a complete instructional approach which engages students in nonstop, cooperative exploration. Students work together to make sense of what is going on. Project Approach is much different from inquiry-based activities.

Inquiry-based activities are what most of us experienced during our own schooling by its emphasis on cooperative learning. Inquiry is usually thought of as an individually done fairly isolated activity. Project Approach differs from traditional inquiry through its emphasis on students' own artifact construction to represent what is being learned.

Project Approach typically begins with students pursuing solutions to problems by asking and refining questions. They share ideas with each other and then compare them. They may also make predictions as to what they believe the outcome will be. Next, they will most likely be busy designing plans and possibly conducting experiments, which of course would include collecting and analyzing data and then drawing conclusions. Students will be communicating their ideas and findings to others and asking new questions. Finally, they will be creating artifacts.

Project approach contains two vital components:

• First, there is a motivating question or problem that serves to organize and compel activities, which taken as a whole amount to a meaningful project.
• Second, there are culminating products or multiple representations as a series of artifacts, personal communication, or a significant task that meaningfully addresses the driving question.

Let' take a closer look at some features that facilitate the use of project approach in Kindergarten classrooms.

• First there must be a driving question that is anchored in a real-world problem and ideally uses multiple content areas. Sound familiar? If you have been paying attention these past few months, it should because by now you all know that we use a multiple-intelligence / brain-based learning approach in our classrooms. So there are of course multiple opportunities for students to make active investigations that enable them to learn concepts, apply information, and represent their knowledge in a variety of ways.
• Collaboration among students, teachers, and others in the community so that knowledge can be shared and distributed between the members of the learning community is another key feature.
• Also, the use of cognitive tools in learning environments that support students in the representation of their ideas is imperative. Such tools could include computer-based laboratories, hypermedia, graphing applications, and telecommunications.

Are you fascinated and intrigued? We are sure that you are so as they say in the movies the best is yet to come! Check back here next week to find out information about issues and frequently raised questions about project approach.