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.
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.
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