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Transcript

February 2008

The Project Approach: Display and Documentation Techniques

Sylvia Chard

What are some differences between displays and documentation?

Displays are one part of documentation: the part that makes the children’s work visible within the classroom and school. Displays typically include a title, a short commentary by the teacher and/or the children, samples of the children’s work, photographs documenting the progress of the work, and statements or comments made by the children about their work. There may also be ongoing webs or lists, which may be added to the wall displays as more ideas are shared and more information becomes available.

Some other aspects of documentation are not so visible. They may include the teacher’s notes of what children say during a class discussion or a particularly interesting role play session. Children often work for several project sessions on one representation. During this time, the teacher may make suggestions or invite other children to suggest ways for a given representation to be improved. In elementary school, students may keep a project journal or learning log, which can provide additional documentation of the progress of a project. Parents’ comments on their children’s work may also feature in a teacher’s documentation.

How would displays vary during the three phases of project work?

Displays can tell the story of a project as it develops. In the first phase of the work, the teacher invites the children to share personal experiences related to the topic. In addition to oral storytelling, the children draw, paint, make models, and write about their experiences. These can feature on a display that will encourage children to look at and read about their classmates’ prior knowledge of the topic.

Usually the teacher makes a web of vocabulary with the children as the words emerge in their personal storytelling. They can add to the web as the project progresses. A list of questions is another typical feature on display in the first phase of a project. The list is developed by the children and the teacher in discussion together. These questions become the focus of investigations in the second phase of the project.

In the second phase of the project, various investigations characterize the work. As the children find out more about the topic, their discoveries can be documented on display together with photographs and captions. Captions may include comments made by the children as they worked. Teachers of elementary students can display the standards children are expected to achieve in social studies or science, language or math, as these are addressed by the project work in an interdisciplinary context.

The third phase does not usually generate more work to put on display. This is a time for review and sharing with visitors to the classroom. However, minor additions may be made, or new commentary may link evidence of progress made in later work with some misconceptions or gaps in the children’s knowledge recorded earlier.

What are the best ways to arrange the display of the sequences of events of a project?

The sequences of events can be related in a chart or a timeline or recorded on a calendar. Sometimes related events may be shown in close proximity on the walls of a classroom. However, it is worth noting that the children see the key events—the field visit, the expert coming to the classroom, the delivery of a box of books from the local library—as separate events so that displays about them can be appreciated as stand-alone pieces of documentation. Children and other viewers of displays can usually well understand the relevance of an event if each display includes a title, a brief teacher explanation, children’s accounts of what took place, and a statement of what they learned.

For those of us who are teaching undergraduates: What are some common mistakes we should warn them about that people are likely to make with their documentation when they're new to the Project Approach?

It is difficult to make serious mistakes in showing children’s project work if the purpose of display is fully understood. The main purpose of display is to share information with all children in the classroom. Project displays are to be informative rather than decorative. A secondary consideration is that any visitor to the classroom be able to see the project work and recognize where the children are in the process of carrying out the project. The displayed work should tell the story of the project as it unfolds for the whole class, as described in my answer to a previous question.

In project work, children have opportunities to choose what they would like to investigate and how they would like to represent their findings. This means they may be the only ones in the class with particular knowledge about one aspect of the topic. As part of their work, the children have to share what they learn, even teach their classmates about what they have represented. They do this through oral presentation and display. The teacher can write captions for the displayed work based on the comments the children make as they tell about their work. In the elementary grades, the children can write some of the captions themselves. It is a good idea to include photographs of how the work was done so that good ideas about how to represent information are shared.

Much of the work displayed should be small scale and placed where possible at eye level. Work that is displayed very high on the wall should be larger scale and less detailed. Paintings, collages, or murals can be displayed higher up on the wall. A related caption can be placed lower down so that the point of the work is not lost on the viewer.

Space for display is often scarce. The children can work on small pieces of paper and make small constructions. The work does not have to be large scale. Displaying work at an angle rather than horizontally or vertically is not usually a good idea because it means that the work takes up more space. In addition, it is difficult to read writing that is not posted horizontally. If a teacher is not encouraging others to read writing on display, the work should probably not be on display at all.

It can be helpful to display a few selected pieces of work to illustrate particular information. Other work can be published in a class book or stored in a child’s project folder.

Here are some further simple tips to display children’s work to its full advantage:

• Mount the work on darker or neutral color construction paper (black, beige, grey, brown, etc.). Bright colors distract from the work.
• Secure the work at all corners so that it doesn’t curl up or get torn.
• Use a large sheet of backing paper (butcher paper, colored paper on a roll, or newsprint from a large roll).
• Use different colors of backing paper for neighboring displays on different subtopics (e.g., green background for an account of a field visit to a farm next to a black background for a map with pictures of significant local landmarks and paragraphs about their history).
• Do not use brightly colored borders around the bulletin boards displaying children’s work. These take up space and can be distracting.

I was hoping to find some samples of lesson plans and also of anecdotal observations of children. My center is trying to move toward a project report, and it would be helpful for me to have some samples to show my teachers. Are there any Web sites or books that you would recommend?

 

Examples are available on various sites online. A resource list is available. In addition, the Project Approach Web site contains material that would be useful to you.

Many schools are now featuring project reports on their Web sites. Here are a few examples: Lawrence Township, Indiana, Harrison Hill School of Inquiry, and University of Alberta Child Study Centre.

The purposes of anecdotal records of children can be varied. In the context of project work, these are not usually about normative features of children’s work, that is, their work as it compares to that of other children. These are more usefully about individual children’s approaches to their work and their growing dispositions to develop interests and strive for mastery. For example, a child might show progress in explaining his or her work clearly to classmates, persistence in the face of difficulty, creativity and resourcefulness in solving problems, or social skills in facilitating collaborative work with other children.

Related Information:

• Resource List
  http://illinoisearlylearning.org/askanexpert/chard/sup.htm
• Project Approach Web site
  http://www.projectapproach.org
• Examples of School Project Reports:
  • Lawrence Township, Indiana
    https://schools.ltschools.org/
  • Harrison Hill School of Inquiry
    https://harrisonhill.ltschools.org/academics/classroom.php
  • University of Alberta Child Study Centre
    http://www.childstudycentre.ualberta.ca/

Hello, my name is Laura, and I am a Costa Rican preschool teacher. I am studying for my master’s degree at the National University of Costa Rica. I’d like to do my final practicum for graduation on the Project Approach and also implement it at the program where I work. This is a program in a disadvantaged area where resources can be very scarce, especially because of the high crime rate. I would appreciate it very much if you could give me some information about documentation and advise me about how to carry out this approach.

Please see the answer to the previous question for resources that will help you get started with projects in the program where you work. Project work is very different from other approaches, and it can take a teacher some time to refocus her work to develop rich project explorations. When the teacher and the children are new to the approach, it is a good idea to start with a small investigation, a small-scale topic, like making tacos, or a study of a local plant, or a vehicle the children have experience of, such as a school bus.

Some samples of work the children do can be selected for display on the classroom wall or in a class book. Children can try fieldwork, observational drawing in the classroom, exploring materials, and representing what they have learned. Project work does not require many resources. It does require the teacher to have a good sense of what is worth investigating in the neighborhood of the school and knowledge of local people who might come into school to share information with the children. I have seen wonderful talks with children on how to make tacos or pizzas, how dogs are trained to help people with handicaps, how the produce manager in a grocery store does his work, or how a waitress does her job in a restaurant.

How do you determine the amount of narrative that should accompany photographs, drawings, etc., in a display?

 

There are various purposes behind the display of every piece of work featured. Samples of children’s work are displayed to

• tell the story of an investigation through representation,
• show a range of different responses to an experience,
• feature information that will be useful to other children,
• show various representational techniques, and
• demonstrate various aspects of quality in final drafts of work.

The amount of text accompanying work on display in a classroom is necessarily small because space is usually quite limited. It is also difficult to stand in front of a display for enough time to read much detailed information. Thinking about the above purposes of display can be helpful in enabling the teacher to make the narratives concise.

It is interesting to note that teachers find it generally helpful in project work to feature the work itself rather than the originator(s) or author(s) of the work. The project is seen as a collaborative effort to which all children contribute according to their interest and special abilities. This strategy helps to focus the children’s attention on the value of the knowledge and skills of their classmates. For example, if two children had worked unusually well together on a given product, the product might be featured with some suggestions as to how a person can be productive and avoid conflict when working with someone else on a piece of project work.

What are some ways to make elements of displays interactive?

When displays of children’s work are made interactive, they are much more inviting of other children’s attention than if they are static presentations. When you approach a display, it is interesting to notice those invitations to interact. Consider adding the following to the information you are displaying:

• Questions to provoke the viewer to think about the information. These may be presented on flaps that can be lifted with a finger to see an answer hidden underneath.
• Tabs to move sideways or up and down to reveal more information.
• Pencil and paper to add your comments to a nearby box.
• Pencil on a string to invite you to add personal information to an ongoing survey.
• Objects with invitations to lift them to feel their weight, touch them to feel their texture, or shake them to hear a sound.
• Invitations to observe and notice details about living things in a vivarium on a display table or shelf.

The children themselves can add their own interactive ideas to a display too.

Can media such as video and audiotapes be incorporated into project displays?

Video and audiotapes can be incorporated into project displays with the proviso that time and opportunity are allowed for students to look at these or listen to them and take part in follow-up discussion. The tapes themselves are not so immediately attractive on a display, so there has to be some provision for their use. Sometimes there might be a button to press in order to start a video or a slide sequence. This feature could provide a useful informative addition to a display. It is not a good idea to have a tape or slide sequence running continuously because this can be distracting to children working nearby.

Do you have any suggestions about how to display large constructions that are often part of project work?

Constructions can take various forms in project work. They can be large enough for children to play in them and operate them such as a grocery store or a car wash. They can be very large models that contain a great deal of detail but that are too small to be played in. They can be large table-top models, or they can be shoe box size or smaller to fit on a shelf or stapled to a vertical surface for a short time.

Some classrooms are large enough to display all sizes of models. Some are, however, very small, with little space for display. It is a good idea for a teacher to think about the size of the space available for display when helping children plan their final products and models.

Usually there is a certain amount of display space around the inside of the classroom. In many schools, there is also the possibility of using space outside classrooms in the corridors beside the classroom doors. Sometimes there is space in the entrance hall of the school where displays can feature the work of certain classrooms for a limited period of time. This has the advantage of making good ideas readily available through display to classrooms all over the school.

Projects can offer opportunities for children to make many different kinds of representations. Children can work on large-scale collages, murals, or posters as well as 3-dimensional models. If space is scarce, it is a good idea to encourage the children to work more in two dimensions than in three and with small models rather than larger ones. Models can very successfully be small and light even with very young children who have small hands. Many children enjoy miniature representations of reality. One medium is colored paper, which can be cut, folded, and stuck together to make 3-dimensional models for which it is easier to find a small display space.

Can displays and documentation of children's project work be used in a family child care program where there is usually only one care provider?

Project work can be documented and displayed in a family child care program by one child care provider. She may have to be resourceful about how much space she can provide for the documentation. It can be very satisfying for children to see their work on the walls of the rooms where they work.

In addition to display of children’s work around a room, it is possible to make big books that include drawings, paintings, photographs, quotations of what children said about their work or other experiences, captions dating and explaining the work, etc.

Project work can also be documented in Powerpoint presentations. Children’s drawings, paintings, models, block constructions, etc., can be scanned or photographed for the record with explanatory captions.

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