A lake, a bridge, trails, trees, and gardens in a city park provided students in one Des Moines, Iowa, school with a wide-ranging, three-month study opportunity. From March to June 2002, students made more than 20 field visits and became experts on a local park. At the same time, they acquired and used knowledge and skills that addressed curriculum requirements in language arts, history, geography, ecology, math, science, and health.
How could four teachers find time for so much community-based work? Current thinking about effective language learning supports an increase in the amount of time spent on developing literacy. Teachers across North America are under pressure to spend more time on a wide range of reading and writing activities. In many elementary school classrooms, the entire morning is devoted to language learning. Meanwhile, the time demands of other curriculum areas are also increasing, and teachers face the question: How to fit a quart into a pint pot?
The Gray's Lake Park Project
One answer to the problem is to use the project approach to teaching and learning in school. Undertaken over several weeks, projects are in-depth studies that involve language arts, math, science, social studies, and other subjects (seewww.project-approach.com). After participating in project approach training, teachers at the Downtown School in Des Moines decided to respond to district demands for effective language arts programming by initiating the Gray's Lake Park project. Four teachers with mixed-age classes of 4th and 5th grade students developed the 12-week project. The project approach to teaching and learning is now a feature of every classroom in the school.
The first step was to engage in some preliminary planning. The teachers decided that the students would study a park located about two miles from the school. The Gray's Lake Park project offered diverse opportunities for students to learn and employ reading and writing skills as they observed wildlife, studied a small lake, considered the construction of a bridge, investigated the use and maintenance of the trails, and discussed community, social, and environmental issues.
The teachers used the project approach to plan the long-term study in three phases, a structure that can apply to any project (Katz & Chard, 2000). The first phase enabled teachers to explore students' past experiences and interest in parks. The students discussed their experiences, wrote about their memories of parks, interviewed one another to learn about experiences different from their own, and compiled questions to investigate. The second phase involved planning the study and undertaking fieldwork and library research to answer the students' questions. The students and teachers worked in research teams and shared their findings through wall displays of detailed reports.
The teachers and students planned the third phase collaboratively; its purpose was to review and summarize new knowledge and share it with others through a culminating event to which parents and other guests were invited.
Phase One: Beginning the Project
In the first phase of the Gray's Lake Park project, teachers focused on helping the students think, discuss, and write about their personal experiences and prior knowledge of parks. Students wrote about parks that they had visited near their homes and on vacations, as well as about their experiences at Gray's Lake. In general, such writing is effective because the students are the content experts and are personally interested in the memories they choose to write about. By reading and listening to their classmates' writing, students developed a collective knowledge of parks and lakes. Students remember more if new learning is relevant and connected to what they already know.
The teachers studied the students' writings to learn about the special knowledge students had and what they found interesting. Teachers and students visited the park in the first week of the study, brainstormed ideas, made field sketches, and listed questions they wanted to investigate. The lists of questions provided the basis for planning. The teachers arranged additional field visits to Gray's Lake Park, interviews with experts, readings, and practical investigations related to science, social science, and health concepts for grades 4 and 5.
Phase Two: Developing the Project Work
During the second phase of the project, the students pursued various lines of inquiry. The investigations involved a good deal of fieldwork; classes, groups, and pairs of students made frequent visits to the park. At different times, a biologist, a surveyor, a water quality expert, and the architect of a bridge that spanned the lake accompanied the students, who carried clipboards to make field notes. Teachers followed up the fieldwork with classroom activities that helped students decide how they wanted to demonstrate what they had learned.
In fact, choice was a major feature of the project. Each teacher took responsibility for a topic of personal interest. One teacher chose the natural environment, another chose the lake and water, and two others focused together on the bridge and the trails. The teachers organized field visits, expert speakers, reading material, and classroom work related to their topics. Students chose to make their field visits with the teacher whose topic they were most interested in.
In addition to working with selected teachers on special topics, students studied other park-related issues across curriculum areas. Teams and individuals carried out different but complementary investigations. Individuals and groups were responsible for teaching the other students about their findings through the creation of classroom displays. During class language arts activities, students had daily opportunities to describe their work to their peers and to deepen their understandings about Gray's Lake Park through oral reports and discussions. Teachers chose and read aloud articles and book chapters that related to the park study.
During independent reading times, students read classmates' work; textbooks, trade books, and other media related to their topic; and online materials. At the same time, teachers instructed students in reading strategies. For example, students learned to use an anticipation guide before reading factual material to activate their background knowledge and make predictions that they could confirm or reject while they read.
Teachers also formally taught students about different text structures for writing. During writer's workshop, students worked on their writing pieces independently and in collaboration with their teachers and peers. They composed examples of different kinds of writing: narrative (for example, a story told from the point of view of a teacup); sequence (write-ups of water experiments); biography (Gaylord Gray II, former owner of the park land); persuasion (letters to city officials); problem and solution (pollution in the lake); and comparison (pros and cons). The teachers used the language arts curriculum writing requirements to determine the specific outcomes that they would expect from the students' work. The teachers were also able to address curriculum knowledge and process outcomes in science and social science. For example, reports about water experiments met the 5th grade science curriculum requirements to communicate experimental methods, follow directions, describe observations, analyze results, and tell others about investigations and explanations. The same reports also met the social science curriculum requirement to use problem-solving techniques.
Thinking about current events and issues related to the park helped develop students' critical thinking abilities. After reading local newspaper articles about the park, students wrote letters to the mayor and city council members in support of, or opposition to, such issues as allowing power boats on the lake, banning dogs and skaters from the trails, and spending money on Gray's Lake Park rather than on other city parks. In doing so, students learned to make lists of pros and cons, write persuasive paragraphs, and appeal to readers' feelings. Students who wrote the letters experienced responsible citizenship firsthand.
In the second phase of the project, teachers helped students choose research work that supported their interests. The following examples of students' work in different areas of study show the kind of writing students did and the enthusiasm some students developed for writing. Students also gained some unanticipated knowledge in the course of their work.
- Many students were interested in the flora and fauna. They did library and Internet research and prepared illustrated reports on the fish in the lake and tributary rivers; the creatures of the wetlands; and the flowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees. Some students became interested in plant cells. They described the fertilization of a seed in detailed technical language. Others were more interested in describing the different kinds of trees in the park and their characteristics.
- A previously reluctant writer became enthusiastic about raccoons. She researched and wrote a detailed report about where raccoons live, what they eat, and their habits. In fact, teachers who use the project approach often note that new interests can energize reluctant readers and writers and encourage them to develop and apply literacy skills as they share new knowledge.
- During a class writing session, students were invited to take the point of view of any one thing in the park and use any form of writing to present their ideas. One student took the point of view of a snake and wrote a journal account of a day in the life of the reptile.
- The lake itself provided opportunities for the scientific investigation of water content and the work of monitoring and maintaining water quality. The education coordinator for the local water-works helped students test water samples to determine oxygen content, nitrate content, and the hardness of the water; discussed erosion and water pollution; and encouraged the students to conduct scientific investigations of water quality upon their return to their classrooms. One group of students studied how the lakeshore had been designed to prevent wind and water from eroding the soil by the lake. The students shared their information with another group of students who were studying the natural life of pond-dwelling fish and amphibians. In such a rich local environment, students could readily appreciate the interdependence of human beings and other forms of life. A parent who is a biologist made several visits to the lake with the students to help them learn about how to assess the lake's health by identifying the kinds of aquatic life found in it. He was especially knowledgeable about the fish, and several students wrote research reports about particular fish in the local waters.
- Some students learned about the history of the park, and met and interviewed the person who owned the land before it was bought and developed as a park. Their written accounts of the interview showed how impressed they were that one family had been connected with the park over several generations.
- One teacher and a group of students were fascinated with the bridge across one arm of the lake. They wondered why it had been necessary to build a bridge rather than continue the lakeside trail around the lake's perimeter. The path could not be continued because, according to the law, such action would have brought the path too close to a railroad siding. Moreover, because the lake sometimes flooded, any path at the edge of the lake would be under water for a few weeks each year. A city surveyor for the parks came to show the students how he measured distances, elevations, and angles with a theodolite mounted on a tripod. From opposite sides of the lake, two groups of students measured their relative positions and later used the data to make an accurate three-dimensional map of the park. After this event, one student wrote,Now I have three things I want to be when I grow up: a veterinarian, a rock climber, and a surveyor.
Phase Three: Concluding the Project
The third phase of the project involved the organization of two special events. One event provided a forum for students to showcase their work to parents and guests. Students presented their work in groups through oral reports or dramatic presentations, displayed their portfolios of project work, and accompanied the visitors to the four classrooms to explain the detailed displays that they had made about their work. To prepare for the event, students had to synthesize their collective learning to explain it to others. As a result, the teachers were able to assess how much students had learned during the project.
In addition to the serious work involved in the information-sharing event, the teachers and students arranged a fun visit to the park. The students and their parents swam in the lake, played games, and picnicked in the park to celebrate their hard work.
Benefits for Students and Teachers
The learning environment developed through the project approach can provide students with many attractive work choices and opportunities to develop interests in collaboration with their peers. In this learning context, students are able to negotiate with the teacher to address their own personal learning needs and style preferences as well as curriculum outcomes. Research about effective learning from the fields of psychology and neuroscience continues to emphasize the importance of addressing students' interests. As Andrew Meltzoff said,Stimulating, varied input is important for development, starting from the earliest ages all the way up through college and into adulthood. (D'Arcangelo, 2000)
The Gray's Lake Park project demonstrated how teachers could meet curriculum standards through high-quality class projects. Rich, in-depth projects can offer students a learning environment in which they can develop the reading and writing skills essential for lifelong, effective citizenship. During the project, 4th and 5th graders were able to sustain a lively interest in their community and become active citizens. They became willing readers and writers, who sometimes surprised their parents and the community members who helped them learn about the park. In the words of language learning experts:Effective literacy programs foster active, responsible learning. They help students begin to use literacy as a tool that gives them the power to find the information they need, to express their opinions, to take positions. Active learners have their own goals and are engaged over time. They recognize the teacher's requirements but also recognize that fulfilling these requirements will help them achieve their goals. (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001, p. 3)
The teachers also benefited as they modeled lifelong learning to their students. The adults involved were energized to the point that they made arrangements to take students to the park for special tasks during the school lunch hour or to work with students in the park during the weekend. In addition to meeting many curriculum goals and nurturing lifelong reading and writing skills, the project fostered a culture of learning that teachers and students could appreciate together.
