Project Skills

During a project, students and teachers acquire many different skills. Our veteran project teachers develop these skills at the beginning of the year before the project even begins during classroom activities.

Observing and Planning

observation

Practicing observation through watching students actions and listening to their words, is a great way for students and teachers to discover each others interests. The more the observation skill is developed, the more teachers and students will notice during field sites, investigations, and visits with experts.

Teacher Anticipatory Planning & Brainstorming

When evaluating student interests and possible project topics, it’s important for teachers to do some pre-planning before the phase II investigations begin. One of the tools we recommend for planning is creating a teacher anticipatory planning web where you create a web on your topic and think about which developmental objectives could be met during the project. Another way to brain storm is making a list of possible artifacts, experts, and field sites.

Sharing Ideas and Asking Questions

Webbing with Students

Webs are a great tool for organizing thoughts. Before starting Phase II of a project, it’s crucial to document what students already know through a web. Younger student webs will include more pictures and may be done in small groups led by the teacher. Older students can create their own independent webs. Webs are meant to be revisited throughout a project, so don’t forget to keep webbing!

Creating Question Lists

For a project to be successful, student input in necessary. Projects are driven through finding answers to student questions. Asking questions is a skill that needs to be developed through teacher modeling and student practice. If you are working with non-verbal students, you can look at their actions to see what they want to know by how they interact with their environment and artifacts.

Collecting Data