Project Objectives

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There are two different types of objectives articulated and identified in this project entitled, What's to Eat?: A Close Look at Food Around Our School. General objectives for project-investigations are common across all topics. They are aligned with best practices and high quality curriculum as described by the National Association of the Education of Young Children and the National Association for the Gifted. General objectives reflect the process of inquiry and the students’ engagement in in-depth studies.

Specific content objectives for each project investigation emerge initially out of topic webs and are formulated and reformulated by the students’ questions, the teachers’ guidance, and the shifting interests of the students as the project progresses. The degree to which a child experiences depth and complexity of a topic may be different depending upon the diversity of skills and abilities of the students. Not all children master each objective, but respond to the tasks and progress at their own level. Outcomes are varied and children demonstrate different levels of content and skill mastery. General and specific objectives relate to the Illinois Learning Standards for early elementary students.

General Objectives for Project Investigations

1. Students will engage in an in-depth study of a topic.
2. Students will pursue first hand investigations.
   • Students will engage actively in data collection.
   • Students will become more proficient in organizing data.
   • Students will learn and utilize different modes for representing data.
3. Students will think critically and reflectively.
   • Students will engage actively in discussions of the topic, exchange ideas, debate, etc.
   • Students will formulate questions.
   • Students will evaluate their experiences in many ways and participate in culminating activities.
4. Students will relive and renew experiences they have had with various subject domains.
5. Students will increase their ability to use primary and secondary resources.
6. Students will increase their vocabulary.
7. Students will learn and apply new modes of inquiry including questioning and hypothesizing, reforming of hypotheses; interviewing, surveying, and observing.
8. Students will increase their modes of representing their ideas (observational drawings, graphs, Venn diagrams, displays).
9. Students will uncover facts and principles in various subject domains.
10. Students will be exposed to numerous and varied instructional strategies such as the following:
    • Whole Group Instruction And Discussion
    • Small Group Instruction And Discussion
    • Interviews With Experts
    • Field Trips
    • Field Studies
    • Student-Initiated Projects Such As Constructions, Surveys, Representations
    • Personal Conversations With Teachers Or Other Student Experts
    • Experimentation
11. Students will strengthen their dispositions to be interested in relevant and worthwhile phenomena (Katz & Chard, 2000).

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Specific Content Objectives for "What's to Eat?: A Close Look at Food Around Our School"

1. Students will gain an awareness of the different food groups and the food pyramid.
2. Students will recognize the relationship between good nutrition and a healthy body.
3. Students will become familiar with various fields of study that involve healthcare, nutrition and plant and environmental sciences.
4. Students will gain an awareness of the relationship between plants and food.
5. Students will increase their understanding of the digestive system.
6. Students will gain an appreciation of the relationship of foods to cultures, and family traditions.
   

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