Objectives

Specific objectives for each project-investigation emerge initially out of topic webs and are formulated and reformulated as the project progresses by the students’ questions, the teachers’ guidance, and the shifting interests of the students. Overarching goals are related to Illinois Learning Standards and represent typical curricular areas for an early childhood classroom. What is not typical of all early childhood classrooms is the emphasis on and opportunity for students to pursue in-depth studies. 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 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).

Specific Content Objectives for Studying Construction

1. Students will gain an appreciation for the importance of shelter.
2. Students will learn that buildings are constructed and maintained.
3. Students will increase their understanding about the process and sequence of constructing a building.
4. Students will become familiar with fields of study that involve construction including civil engineering and architecture.
5. Students will learn about machines, tools, and materials used to construct buildings.
6. Students will gain an awareness of the relationship of buildings to their environment.