O que devem as crianças aprender?

O artigo que aqui divulgo reflecte sobre o que é realmente importante que as crianças aprendam no jardim de infância reflectindo sobre a importância da vertente social da aprendizagem, sobre a importância do meio cultural onde as aprendizagens ocorrem, sobre a importância das relações humanas que medeiam a apendizagem, sobre um ensinoque se quer plural e inclusivo.
Pareceu-e especialmente interessante esta frase na conclusão do artigo:

"In conclusion, I would like to rephrase the question posed at the beginning of this paper—"What should children learn?"—with a more essential first question: What should adults do to insure that children learn those skills, knowledge, and concepts that reflect their individual needs, interests, and capabilities; promote their inclusion and full participation in a democratic society; and protect their rights as citizens to that knowledge that will enhance their current and future lives and productivity?"

Esta pergunta não tem uma resposta simples, nem única. Mas abre caminhos para a  reflexão sobre o que será realmente importante que as crianças aprendam no jardim de infância.

O artigo intitula-se What Should Children Learn? Making Choices and Taking Chance e está disponível aqui

Projecto: Looking at the Trees around Us

As árvores são seres vivos fantásticos. Silenciosas, dão tanto, e podem ser uma fonte fantástica de aprendizagens para as crianças.

Exemplo disso é este projecto intitulado: Looking at the Trees around Us .

É um projecto muito bem estruturado, com actividades diversas, contextualizadas, interligadas, continuadas e significativas.

Consituí a meu ver um bom exemplo da aplicação da metodologia da Abordagem de Projecto.

Vale a pena ler, reflectir e aprender com este projecto.

Projecto: Do Nascer ao Pôr do Sol

Partilho aqui o sítio fantástico do colégio Magno http://www.colmagno.com.br/ onde divulgam um conjunto de projectos desenvolvidos.

São exemplos fantásticos; vale mesmo apena ler, observar e reflectir sobre estes projectos pois são inspiradores, inovadores e bem fundamentados focando-se no interesse e curiosidade natural das crianças.

Um dos projectos que mais me fascinou chama-se  Do Nascer ao pôr-do-sol.

Este projecto reune um conjunto de actividades que ajudam a criança a descobrir e a indagar sobre a passagem do tempo.

Clique no link abaixo para ver as actividades desenvolvidas neste projeto:
http://www.colmagno.com.br/Nascer_ao_Por_do_Sol/default.htm

Adorei este registo gráfico; é fantástico como as crianças representaram os pormenores!

Habitualmente costumo dizer esta lengalenga à minha Bebé; ela adora e diz qualquer coisa como "empo; empo!".

Achei muito curioso que esta lengalenga também seja dita no Brasil (sim temos um passado comum que nos une fortemente).

Trago esta lengalenga na memória desde a minha infância. Lembro-me de recitá-la com a minha irmã e de juntas, filosoficamente, tentármos perceber o que queria dizer.

Sempre me fascinou o tempo por isso achei este projecto tão interessante.

Sem dúvida que o tempo é uma das entidades físcias mais fascinantes deste Universo...e como dizia Einstein; é tão, tão relativo.

Carpe diem, será talvez a melhor maneira de relativamente bem, vivermos o nosso  tempo.

Abordagem de Projecto: Continuidade e Significância

Continuity and Purpose in the Design of Meaningful Project Work                                                                                                                        Amy C. McAninch

School of Education

University of Missouri at Kansas City

Abstract

This paper discusses two pitfalls in designing project work. The first is a tendency to design projects with little emphasis on how the subject matter might connect to future studies. The second involves processes and goals of project work: all too often the processes proposed for project work serve goals that are nonexistent, weak, or unrelated to one another; or if strong goals exist, they are served by mundane processes. Because the philosophical foundations of project work reside in progressive education, and in particular in the work of Dewey, this paper focuses on the insights his conception of curriculum has for these pitfalls. In the first section of this paper, Dewey's principle of continuity is examined in relation to the first pitfall and the treatment of subject matter in project work. In the remainder of this paper, goals and processes are considered in light of Dewey's discussion of the concept of purpose. The paper notes that Dewey's theoretical analysis of progressive education suggests that subject matter content, processes, and products are all vital to intelligent activity. The paper also points to the fundamental role that the philosophical foundations of education play in the development of curriculum for young children and the difficulty of implementing progressive pedagogy.

Introduction
The impetus for this paper is my frustration in helping preservice teacher candidates develop sound plans for project work for the early primary grades. My experience has been that the pitfalls involved in designing project work are at least twofold. First, preservice teacher candidates tend to design projects as islands unto themselves, with little emphasis on how the subject matter might connect to future studies. For example, a project on "China," followed by a project on "Australia," will contain few concepts and understandings connecting the two subjects. If there are concepts that relate one study to the next or subsume both topics, they are all too often implicit, rather than explicit. Thus, while the customs or language particular to each country may be examined as part of project work, children are not helped to think in terms of overarching concepts such as "culture." The consequence is a weakening of the educational value of the project. The second pitfall has to do with the processes and goals of project work. All too often, the processes that preservice teacher candidates propose for project work serve goals that are nonexistent, weak, unrelated to one another, or unclarified. On the other hand, strong goals are frequently served by mundane processes. Here, too, opportunities for learning may be lost. As Katz has pointed out, projects require good content and processes in the service of solid intellectual goals (L. G. Katz, personal communication, December 10, 1999).

Because the philosophical foundations of project work reside in progressive education, and in particular in the work of Dewey (1938), this paper focuses on the insights his conception of curriculum has for these pitfalls. In the first section of this paper, Dewey's principle of continuity is examined in relation to the first pitfall and the treatment of subject matter in project work. In the remainder of this paper, goals and processes are considered in light of Dewey's discussion of the concept of purpose. For the progressives who originally advocated project work, the alienation and intellectual stagnation of 19th-century schooling was to be remedied by the "whole-hearted purposeful activity" of project work (Kilpatrick, 1925, p. 349). Dewey's effort to formulate the principles by which a child-centered and experientially based curriculum can be designed and evaluated makes clear that projects are not merely a pedagogical reform, but more fundamentally they are tied to the cultivation of the kind of intellectual dispositions required of citizens in a democracy. These ideas are examined more fully below, turning first to the "principle of continuity" and its implications for a project curriculum.

vide texto integral em http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v2n1/mcaninch.html

Abordagem de Projecto - contributos para o desenvolvimento global das crianças

The Project Approach: Meeting the State Standards

Dot Schuler

Grafton Elementary School

Abstract

This paper suggests that when engaged in project work, children apply most of the skills identified in the age-appropriate state learning standards. To illustrate how good-quality project work addresses the Illinois state learning standards, this paper describes a project conducted by a second-grade class on their community—Grafton, Illinois. The paper focuses on two children who, as part of the Grafton project, studied churches in the community. The paper describes the project's three phases and discusses how, through the process of investigating a topic of interest to them, representing their new knowledge, and sharing their work with others, the children applied the skills identified by the Illinois state learning standards as necessary for early elementary school students.

Introduction

According to Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard (1989), a project is an in-depth investigation of a topic worthy of investigation in the students' immediate environment. By using the Project Approach to complement other parts of the curriculum, teachers can create a learning environment in which state learning standards for elementary students are addressed in an integrated and meaningful way. For example, when they are engaged in project work, children will meet many, if not most, of the state of Illinois standards for several domains in the process of investigating a topic of interest to them, representing their new knowledge, and sharing their work with others (see the Appendix for a partial list of Illinois Learning Standards for Early Elementary Grades). In addition to the skills applied in project work, other skills can be taught systematically and practiced during the course of a project. Project work intrinsically meets many of the Illinois state standards, even before considering the content of the project. Therefore, by also attending carefully to the standards relevant to the content of the project, teachers can be assured that project work is a good-quality instructional strategy that encourages children to practice and apply an abundance of skills. This article describes how a project on their community conducted in a second-grade classroom in Grafton, Illinois, helped two children meet many of the state standards for their grade level. Although this article focuses on two of the children in the class, all of their classmates had similar opportunities to acquire knowledge and practice and apply skills required in the state standards.

vide texto integral em http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v2n1/schuler.html

Abordagem de projecto com crianças de 2 anos: um exemplo...a seguir...

Beginning the Journey: The Project Approach with Toddlers

Yvonne Kogan & Josefina Pin

Eton School, Mexico City

Abstract

Some features of project work are of value for toddlers, while others are best left until children are older. This article shares the process through which teachers and administrators at a private school in Mexico City gained awareness of the importance of listening, observing, and documenting children’s activities to determine how to adapt features of the Project Approach to meet the needs and interests of toddlers. This adaptation of project work, called project practice, engaged toddlers in developmentally appropriate activities that involved exploration, representation, and the search for understanding.

Introduction
The experiences presented in this article take place at Eton School in Mexico City, Mexico. Eton is a private, coed, multicultural, bilingual (Spanish and English) institution for children ages 2 to 18 (prekindergarten to grade 12).
As principal and assistant principal at Eton School’s Early Childhood Center, we have spent many years working with the Project Approach with children ages 2 to 6. We would receive comments from teachers that ranged from it being a wonderful experience to it being frustrating and not very meaningful for the children. It was the teachers of the 2-year-olds who repeatedly expressed their concern and discomfort with project work. We felt puzzled that teachers of older children found project work so engaging for themselves and the children, while the teachers of our very young children did not. At first we thought that the latter lacked knowledge about the Project Approach, its framework, and its features. We decided to give them further training and to work in closer collaboration with them. It was after we spent time in their classrooms, observing and accompanying them in the development of several projects, that we were able to determine the cause for their feelings. We could see that we needed to work with 2-year-old children in a different way than we were working with our older children. It was then that we began looking for ways of adapting features of the Project Approach to the needs and interests of our youngest learners.

Vide texto integral em http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v11n1/kogan.html