Final Version May 5 07

93
and centred, the project method was used in Dewey’s Laboratory School at the University
of Chicago at the beginning of the 20th century (Tanner, 1997).
In more recent times, project work was a central part of infant and primary
education during the so-called Plowden Years in England of the 1960s and 1970s, and in
the corresponding North American open education years of the same era (Katz & Chard,
2000). A highly creative variation of the project method exists in the pre-primary schools
of Reggio Emilia (Edwards et al., 1994). A North American example, The Project
Approach, “refers to a way of teaching and learning as well as to the content of what is
taught and learned” (Katz & Chard, 1989, p. 3). It is a set of teaching strategies which
enable teachers to guide children through in-depth studies of real world topics (Katz &
Chard, 2000).
Children are instrumental in deciding on topics, becoming the experts, and
sharing accountability of learning with adults (Katz & Chard, 2000). The investigation is
undertaken by a small group of children within a class, sometimes by a whole class, and
occasionally by an individual child (Katz, 1994). The Project Approach can be seen in
preschool and primary classes in many parts of North America and, in recent years, is
being widely adopted in many other countries across Europe and Asia (Katz & Chard,
2000).
According to Katz and Chard (2000), the practice of project work is referred to as
an approach rather than method or model; this suggests that investigative projects
constitute only one element of an early childhood curriculum. As part of the curriculum
for children ages of about 3 to 8 years, project work functions in relationship to other
aspects of the curriculum. Since it is not a total teaching method or model, it does not