Often times when beginning a project, a topic can start pretty broad. For example, a teacher might observe that their children enjoy the Arts, so they may be thinking Art could be a good topic. Or maybe the students enjoy animals, or being outside in Nature. All of these ideas are good starting points, however, they would make very difficult project topics as they are very broad and abstract. These broad and abstract topics can become a trap.
Risks with a topic that is too broad or abstract:
The topic may not be researched as in-depth, making it more of a unit or theme and not a project.
It may not be truly focused on what the children want to know, so they may lose interest quickly. Projects are meant to be studied over a longer period of time.
The topic may not be developmentally appropriate. Young learners use their senses to explore and learn about the world around them. If the topic does not allow for them to discover answers through hands-on exploration, the teacher ends up doing most of the investigating instead of the children.
During Phase I, it’s important not only to look at children’s interests and environment to gather a topic, but to focus and narrow down that topic. So with the Art example, do students enjoy painting, sculpting, taking photos, singing, instruments, dancing? To find out, you can do different focusing experiences: bring in artifacts, read books, sing songs, or do a field site in your building. Through bringing in different paint brushes and clay, the teacher finds most students went straight for the brushes and began painting. So the teacher narrows the topic to paint and brushes.
However, without student questions, there is no direction in what to explore about paint and brushes. A teacher may have an ideas of what types of things the students may enjoy exploring, but without student input the project would be a teacher directed inquiry not a true project. To focus the topic on the children’s interest and create a launching point for in-depth child-led investigations, questions need to be gathered. You can ask students what they want to know, do a web, and/or observe their behaviors to gather their current knowledge and questions. With non-verbal students, observing their actions is crucial for discovering the questions they have or what they want to learn more about. After doing these activities, the teacher finds the following student questions around painting and brushes:
-How do I make paint?
-Do I have to use a brush to paint?
-Why are some brushes small and other brushes big?
-What makes it brown?
-Why does it get wet?
-How long until I can take my painting home?
Now that there is more information about what the students want to know, the topic has narrowed from Art, which is broad and abstract to Paint and brushes. With questions and a focused topic, the teacher and students can head into Phase II, Investigating! Additional artifacts and tools such as measuring tape, rulers, timers, different types of paint and brushes and more can be added to the station for deeper investigation. The teacher can guide students through provoking questions: How do you think we can make brown? What other things can we paint with besides brushes? What happens when we use these other tools?
Just imagine all the new things the students will learn and discover with their focused and narrowed topic!
Written by Amelia Troutman