Project stages

The 10 hours allocated to the group 4 project, which are part of the teaching time set aside for developing

the practical scheme of work, can be divided into three stages: planning, action and evaluation.

Planning

This stage is crucial to the whole exercise and should last about two hours.

• The planning stage could consist of a single session, or two or three shorter ones.

• This stage must involve all group 4 students meeting to “brainstorm” and discuss the central topic,

sharing ideas and information

The topic can be chosen by the students themselves or selected by the teachers.

• Where large numbers of students are involved, it may be advisable to have more than one mixed

subject group.

After selecting a topic or issue, the activities to be carried out must be clearly defined before moving

from the planning stage to the action and evaluation stages.

A possible strategy is that students define specific tasks for themselves, either individually or as members of

groups, and investigate various aspects of the chosen topic. At this stage, if the project is to be experimentally

based, apparatus should be specified so that there is no delay in carrying out the action stage. Contact with

other schools, if a joint venture has been agreed, is an important consideration at this time.

This stage should last around six hours and may be carried out over one or two weeks in normal scheduled

class time. Alternatively, a whole day could be set aside if, for example, the project involves fieldwork.

• Students should investigate the topic in mixed-subject groups or single subject groups.

• There should be collaboration during the action stage; findings of investigations should be shared

with other students within the mixed/single-subject group. During this stage, in any practically based

activity, it is important to pay attention to safety, ethical and environmental considerations.

The emphasis during this stage, for which two hours are probably necessary, is on students sharing their

findings, both successes and failures, with other students. How this is achieved can be decided by the

teachers, the students or jointly.

• One solution is to devote a morning, afternoon or evening to a symposium where all the students, as

individuals or as groups, give brief presentations.

• Alternatively, the presentation could be more informal and take the form of a science fair where

students circulate around displays summarizing the activities of each group.

The symposium or science fair could also be attended by parents, members of the school board and the

press. This would be especially pertinent if some issue of local importance has been researched. Some of the

findings might influence the way the school interacts with its environment or local community.

Reference:

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