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| What is important nowadays for our students is to know in advance the route they are going to take and the way they will be able to go along that route. Project works become a good way to make students take part in the plan they are going to be the protagonists of. | What is important nowadays for our students is to know in advance the route they are going to take and the way they will be able to go along that route. Project works become a good way to make students take part in the plan they are going to be the protagonists of. | ||
| - | The project work is an approach which implies a perfect cooperation between teachers and students. In this way, the teacher becomes a source of information, a resource of innovation, an invisible guide which will mould autonomous students. It is the teacher that before preparing a project, must be the first observer of the surrounding reality, the first to analyse and value the atmosphere, needs and secrets in his/her own class. Only then, on the basis of the problems/or/necessities he/she has detected, the teacher will be able to propose a project and negotiate its content and steps together with his/her own students. He will be the invisible manager who will make of his students the true protagonists of the situation they are going to solve/create. At this point, the students know the route and start feeling less frightened and as a consequence more confident. In a way, the teacher is the first subject of the learning-by-doing process, because through his/her observation of the class, he/she learns how to cope with the situation. This is a good example the students must be aware of: the teacher is no more the one who imposes his/her own ideas and methods, but he/she becomes the one who teaches after learning from his/her own class/students’ situation. It is the first important step towards a fruitful cooperation between learners and teachers. The gap becomes imperceptible to the students: their teacher seems to be one of them! And there is the trick! The teacher is apparently one of them, but in reality his/her own responsibility is higher than ever, because it is now that the invisible puppeteer shows his/her best professional competence: guiding wisely without being perceived. That means making the students as autonomous as possible: they are guided but they are not aware of that, so they feel all the work has been truly done by themselves and that makes them become more confident in their own personal abilities. This is the greatness of the new method of teaching and learning and in this sense project works help a lot, because every single step must be carefully built not only by one person ( the teacher), but through the collaboration of every student in the class. | + | The project work is an approach which implies a perfect cooperation between teachers and students. In this way, the teacher becomes a source of information, a resource of innovation, an invisible guide which will mould autonomous students. It is the teacher that before preparing a project, must be the first observer of the surrounding reality, the first to analyse and value the atmosphere, needs and secrets in his/her own class. Only then, on the basis of the problems/or/necessities he/she has detected, the teacher will be able to propose a project and negotiate its content and steps together with his/her own students. He will be the invisible manager who will make of his students the true protagonists of the situation they are going to solve/create. At this point, the students know the route and start feeling less frightened and as a consequence more confident. In a way, the teacher is the first subject of the learning-by-doing process, because through his/her observation of the class, he/she learns how to cope with the situation. This is a good example the students must be aware of: the teacher is no more the one who imposes his/her own ideas and methods, but he/she becomes the one who teaches after learning from his/her own class/students’ situation. It is the first important step towards a fruitful cooperation between learners and teachers. The gap becomes imperceptible to the students: their teacher seems to be one of them! And there is the trick! The teacher is apparently one of them, but in reality his/her own responsibility is higher than ever, because it is now that the invisible puppeteer shows his/her best professional competence: guiding wisely without being perceived. That means making the students as autonomous as possible: they are guided but they are not aware of that, so they feel all the work has been truly done by themselves and that makes them become more confident in their own personal abilities. This is the greatness of the new method of teaching and learning and in this sense project works help a lot, because every single step must be carefully built not only by one person ( the teacher), but through the collaboration of every student in the class.In this way students learn to work cooperatively, and we know how working in groups is important so that students can exchange opinions, roles and become more and more responsible and self confident. And a project work does certainly lead to these advantages! And it is usually very motivating because its final aim is to create a product: something that can be shown, shared and appreciated by other people. |
| Although a project work does not constitute the whole curriculum but is complementary to the more formal, systematic part of it. A project is not a separate subject, like for example mathematics, but provides a context for applying mathematical concepts and skills. Infact, it provides the students with the context for applying the skills by manipulating and using the information they have learned in more formal parts of the curriculum. Emphasis is placed upon communication, through group cooperation and whole class discussion.Students bring together their previous experiences, skills and current understandings into a negotiation process that should contribute to strenghten their response to the learning situation. The process, which includes consultation of sources of information, negotiation of understandings, and design and refinement of the solution, is facilitated by continuous reflection on content and process. On the other hand the project is not an "add on" to the basis, it should be treated as integral to all other work included in the curriculum. Project work and systematic instruction can be seen as providing complementary learning opportunities. The students not only need to know how to use a skill but also when to use it. They need to learn to recognize for themselves the contexts in which the skill might be useful and the purposes which can most appropriately serve. In systematic instruction the students acquire the skills and in project work they apply those skills in meaningful context.Moreover those students, who usually do not emerge and remain almost completely hidden, because of their shyness or weakness, can find an ideal environment in a class where cooperative learning, as well as interactive learning, are encouraged. | Although a project work does not constitute the whole curriculum but is complementary to the more formal, systematic part of it. A project is not a separate subject, like for example mathematics, but provides a context for applying mathematical concepts and skills. Infact, it provides the students with the context for applying the skills by manipulating and using the information they have learned in more formal parts of the curriculum. Emphasis is placed upon communication, through group cooperation and whole class discussion.Students bring together their previous experiences, skills and current understandings into a negotiation process that should contribute to strenghten their response to the learning situation. The process, which includes consultation of sources of information, negotiation of understandings, and design and refinement of the solution, is facilitated by continuous reflection on content and process. On the other hand the project is not an "add on" to the basis, it should be treated as integral to all other work included in the curriculum. Project work and systematic instruction can be seen as providing complementary learning opportunities. The students not only need to know how to use a skill but also when to use it. They need to learn to recognize for themselves the contexts in which the skill might be useful and the purposes which can most appropriately serve. In systematic instruction the students acquire the skills and in project work they apply those skills in meaningful context.Moreover those students, who usually do not emerge and remain almost completely hidden, because of their shyness or weakness, can find an ideal environment in a class where cooperative learning, as well as interactive learning, are encouraged. | ||
| Actually project work develops students' knowledge and at the same time they can acquire skills like collaboration, communication and independent learning, preparing them for lifelong learning. While students learn to work in groups, they also learn independently through self-reflection and evaluation of their own work processes. | Actually project work develops students' knowledge and at the same time they can acquire skills like collaboration, communication and independent learning, preparing them for lifelong learning. While students learn to work in groups, they also learn independently through self-reflection and evaluation of their own work processes. | ||
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| - KNOWLEDGE APPLICATION: students acquire the ability to make links across different areas of knowledge and to produce and develop ideas in order to apply them to a project task. | - KNOWLEDGE APPLICATION: students acquire the ability to make links across different areas of knowledge and to produce and develop ideas in order to apply them to a project task. | ||
| - | - COLLABORATION: students acquire collaborative skills by working in groups | + | - COLLABORATION: students acquire collaborative skills by working in groups: in this situation two or more people work in collaboration on a single task, where the result is common to all the members of the group and the members contribute to the result. |
| - | - COMMUNICATION: students acquire the skill to communicate by presenting their own ideas to specific audience | + | - COMMUNICATION: students acquire the skill to communicate by presenting their own ideas to specific audience. |
| - | - INDEPENDENT LEARNING: students can learn on their own and reflect on their learning | + | - INDEPENDENT LEARNING: students can learn on their own and reflect on their learning. |
| The way a good project is built generates a lot of advantages: as we all know, first of all it should start from a true problem and as a consequence the tasks should be authentic so the students can connect them to their own reality; that makes them more motivated because they feel school is no more an isolated spot but it is part of the real world they live in every day. | The way a good project is built generates a lot of advantages: as we all know, first of all it should start from a true problem and as a consequence the tasks should be authentic so the students can connect them to their own reality; that makes them more motivated because they feel school is no more an isolated spot but it is part of the real world they live in every day. | ||
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| In that case the school project has worked and has helped to create new awareness, more responsibility through freedom and cooperation, confidence in themselves and the excitement that follows these feelings of knowing and understanding more. | In that case the school project has worked and has helped to create new awareness, more responsibility through freedom and cooperation, confidence in themselves and the excitement that follows these feelings of knowing and understanding more. | ||
| An important trend in language teacher development in recent years has been a move away from the teacher as a passive recipient towards the idea of the teacher as an active creator of his/her own materials and classroom activities. I think that project work fosters a more self-directed approach on the part of the teachers, too. Besides being very motivating, project work enables teachers to acquire new knowledge and skills, to keep up with the pace of change and to increase their professionalism. | An important trend in language teacher development in recent years has been a move away from the teacher as a passive recipient towards the idea of the teacher as an active creator of his/her own materials and classroom activities. I think that project work fosters a more self-directed approach on the part of the teachers, too. Besides being very motivating, project work enables teachers to acquire new knowledge and skills, to keep up with the pace of change and to increase their professionalism. | ||
| - | As far as I am concerned, I had the chance to take part in a wide-ranging school project which gave me the opportunity to cooperate with Austrian teachers and also to teach Italian in the partner school abroad. This experience was challenging, as I had to handle a new situation in a class I did not know, but the good cooperation with the Austrian colleagues helped me to manage the requirements of the task. At the end it was a positive experience that enabled me to exchange ideas and learn a lot. | + | As far as I am concerned, I had the chance to take part in a wide-ranging school project which gave me the opportunity to cooperate with Austrian teachers and also to teach Italian in the partner school abroad. This experience was challenging, as I had to handle a new situation in a class I did not know, but the good cooperation with the Austrian colleagues helped me to manage the requirements of the task. At the end it was a positive experience that enabled me to exchange ideas and learn a lot. |
| + | A project based learning represents an innovation in teaching methods and it should be promoted among teachers so, first of all, a teacher should acquire ICT competences that are essential tools to interact with ‘real’ or ‘virtual’ collegues and share with them knowledge and ideas. | ||
| + | Then the teacher or teachers involved in a project work should not only be competent but also cooperative and highly motivated in order to be able to propose a project not only involving for the students but realistic and convincing for those who have to support it. | ||
| + | This kind of teaching-learning method requires from the teacher a great deal of energy and willingness but it can be highly satisfactory provided it is responding , first of all, to the students’ needs. | ||
