ED424977 PS027125
Title: Rearview Mirror: Reflections on a Preschool Car Project.
Author(s): Beneke, Sallee
Author Affiliation: National Parent Information Network, Champaign,
IL.(BBB34525); ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood
Education, Champaign, IL.(BBB34257)
Pages: 91
Publication Date: November 1998
Notes: Photographs may not reproduce well.
Sponsoring Agency: Office of Educational Research and Improvement
(ED), Washington, DC. (EDD00036)
Contract No: DERR93002007
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
Availability: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood
Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Children's
Research Center, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7469; phone:
800-583-4135, 217-333-1386; fax: 217-244-7732 (Catalog No. 220, $10,
plus $1.50 shipping in U.S.; $3 shipping outside U.S. Payment must
be in U.S. funds. Make checks payable to 'University of Illinois').
Language: English
Document Type: Book (010); ERIC product (071); Reports--Descriptive
(141)
Geographic Source: U.S.; Illinois
Journal Announcement: RIEAPR1999
This book
documents the work of a master preschool teacher, her co-teachers,
student teachers, and very young children as they explored the automotive
laboratory adjacent to their early childhood classroom at a community
college. In addition to introducing the project approach, the master
teacher also introduced the staff and students to documentation
practices, including systematic curriculum-based assessment through
the use of the Work Sampling System. The book's introduction discusses
the challenges and opportunities presented by the location of the
early childhood classroom in the college's Automotive Mechanics
Building. The first chapter, "Planning and Anticipating the
Car Project," discusses reasons for choosing cars as a project
topic, the generation of a topic web, and reasons for using the
project approach and the Work Sampling System. The second chapter,
"Phase 1: Beginning the Project," describes the early
stages of the project and individual children's experiences starting
their exploration of cars. The third chapter, "Phase 2: Building
the Car," describes how individual children solved the problems
that arose in the course of the project, in addition to discussing
various topics, including the challenges presented by the irregular
attendance patterns of the children at the center, when to include
teacher-initiated activities in project work, and the value of demonstrating
a new activity. The fourth chapter, "Phase 3: Sharing and Celebrating
Accomplishments," discusses displaying documentation as a record
of the project, documenting the project in portfolios, and the final
display of the car. The publication concludes with four ERIC digests:
(1) "The Project Approach"; (2) "Issues in Selecting
Topics for Projects"; (3) "The Contribution of Documentation
to the Quality of Early Childhood Education"; and (4) "Performance
Assessment in Early Childhood Education: The Work Sampling System."
Includes 91 illustrations. (LPP)
Descriptors: Active Learning; *Class Activities; Classroom Techniques;
Cooperative Learning; Curriculum Based Assessment; Discovery Learning;
*Documentation; Experiential Learning; Integrated Curriculum; Learning
Activities; Personal Narratives; *Portfolio Assessment; Preschool
Curriculum; Preschool Education; Problem Solving; Student Projects;
Teacher Role; Teacher Student Relationship; Teaching Methods; Young
Children
Identifiers: *Project Approach (Katz and Chard); *Work Sampling
System (Meisels)
