It’s fascinating to see how
project-based learning, once the domain of middle and secondary school curricula,
is now becoming a preferred method of education in the early stages of a
child’s education.
Learning by doing is of primary
importance in early education and projects, particularly collaborative ones,
provide innumerable touch points for children to grow and develop a range of
skills.
In a project-based learning
environment, children gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended
length of time on a question, problem or challenge. Projects provide a flexible and sustainable
platform for children to explore and discover and to develop their critical
thinking and problem-solving abilities. It provides opportunities for them to
collaborate with others, learn about self-management, investigate, ask
questions and accrue knowledge - all of which are important life-skills for
progressing through their education years and thriving in the wider world.
Authenticity is an important aspect
of project-based learning, and when children are immersed in a real-world
context and draw on their personal interests and issues, the outcomes are even
more significant. Early learning centres
are realising the value of authenticity and are introducing projects like
recycling or gardening which can run over the course of a whole year, providing
sustainable opportunities for children to explore, discover, critique, learn
and grow.
Some other examples of project-based
activities which are popular in early learning centres are nutrition
(particularly in schools where the provision of a meal provides a regular
platform for discussion), building projects and tracking the seasons - all of
which are motivated by the premise that project work presents innumerable
opportunities to provoke investigation.
Projects allow curious young minds
to explore and discover, they allow young children’s ideas to be valued, their
creativity encouraged, their interests nurtured and their learning needs met. Importantly, because projects are open-ended
and there is no right or wrong answer in project development, a child can fully
explore their creative thought processes without fear of failure.
Project-based learning is gaining
traction much earlier on in the school system, but it’s always been a guiding
principle in the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. In Reggio Emilia inspired schools, projects
provide the backbone of the learning experiences for both teachers and children
- but the projects that this world-leading education approach incorporates into
its curriculum are nothing like the conventional projects that would be
typically associated with an early education school.
Their projects or investigations as
they are known, are child-led. They may
emerge from a chance event or a conversation.
They may emerge from a problem that’s been posed to the group. They may come about as a result of a child’s
interests or enquiry with the work following an unpredictable path based on the
children’s interests. Importantly, they
are adventures.
The focus is not to follow a
standardised curriculum with pre-determined outcomes. Learning isn’t linear - teachers respond to
the interests of the children and free them to construct knowledge together.
The approach is probably best
described in the words of Italian teacher and psychologist, Loris Malaguzzi who
founded the Reggio Emilia philosophy:
‘What children learn does not follow as an
automatic result from what is taught, rather, it is in large part to the
children’s own doing, as a consequence of their activities and our resources.’
The value of project-based learning
and the Reggio Emilia philosophy have been recognised by Early Childhood
Australia (ECA), a non-profit organisation that promotes and works towards
what’s best for children. In an article
on their website, the ECA said that
after it had revisited what it knew to be ‘best practice’ for young children by
accessing current learning frameworks and approaches including Reggio Emilia,
the Early Years Learning Framework and the work of Kathy Walker, it had put in
place a ‘project-based learning’ program.
‘The program supports the interests
and needs of individual children through a play-based learning approach; it
maximises adult interaction with children, enabling meaningful observations
that inform future learning focuses and also reflects our high expectations for
children’s individual achievement’.*
If you’d like to learn more about
the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, or you’d like to get
first-hand experience of how a centre operates, please visit www.nidoearlyschool.com.au. You’ll see how they cultivate young minds
and a love of learning by a co-learning attitude, facilitated by industry-best
carers and degree-qualified educators dedicated to continuing best practice and
driven by the best interests of the child.
