ERIC/EECE Report: The project approach in early childhood education

Childhood Education, Spring 1997 by Cesarone, Bernard

ED 340518

THE PROJECT APPROACH. Lilian G. Katz & Sylvia C. Chard. 1992. 27 pp. This document defines a project and proposes the project approach as one element of early childhood education that can function in a complementary relationship to other aspects of the early childhood curriculum. The authors outline the benefits of and theoretical rationale behind projects. Finally, they explain four major goals of project work, provide guidelines for implementing project work and present a model of a specific project.

Journal Articles

EJ 523472

LILIAN KATZ ON THE PROJECT APPROACH. Scholastic Early Childhood Today, Vol. 10, No. 6 (March 1996): 20-21. In this interview, Lilian Katz discusses misconceptions about and advantages of the project approach, the teacher's role in project-based work, qualities teachers need to ensure its success, historical background on the development of the approach, and some stumbling blocks to its successful implementation.

EJ 523471

LEARNING THROUGH PROJECTS. Eileen Borgia. Scholastic Early Childhood Today, Vol. 10, No. 6 (March 1996): 22-29. This article offers guidelines for creating and implementing an age-appropriate project that fits children's needs, outlines the four stages of a project's development and gives tips on learning goals, topic selection, family involvement and the use of documentation.

EJ 516731

THE PROJECT APPROACH: A Museum Exhibit Created by Kindergartners. Deborah Diffily. Young Children, Vol. 51, No. 2 (January 1996): 72-75. This article describes one kindergarten class's experience creating a rock and fossil museum exhibit, and the excitement and learning that occurred when the children became directly involved in the project.

EJ 505502

PROJECTS IN THE EARLY YEARS. Jeanette A. Hartman Carolyn Eckerty. Childhood Education, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Spring 1995): 141147. This article suggests that the growing interest in project work is in response to the call for developmentally appropriate practices, discusses the three phases of a "construction site / house project" by 4- and 5-year-olds and provides responses to frequently asked questions about projects.

EJ 503734

PROJECT WORK WITH DIVERSE STUDENTS: Adapting Curriculum Based on the Reggio Emilia Approach. Shareen Abramson, Roxanne Robinson & Katie Ankenman. Childhood Education, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Summer 1995): 197-202. This article presents key features of the Reggio Emilia approach and its adaptation to early childhood curriculum in the United States, discusses using projects as a teaching strategy for diverse students to encourage language and conceptual development and describes project activities involving student teachers and children.

EJ 471383

WHAT'S SO NEW ABOUT THE PROJECT APPROACH? Mary Trepanier-Street. Childhood Education, Vol. 70, No. 1 (Fall 1993): 25-28. The project approach involves an in-depth investigation of a particular topic that integrates language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and the fine arts, and that extends over a period of several days or weeks. New ways to implement this approach in early childhood classrooms are discussed.