1. A Learner-Centered Approach to Teaching
Project Construct
A Learner-Centered Approach to Teaching

2. Developed under the direction of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in 1986.

3. It’s an approach to teaching based on what we know about how children construct knowledge.
Authentic Learning

4. Jean Piaget

5. Child Development Made Easy
Children Think and Process Information Significantly Different Than an Adult Children Move Through Development at Their Own Pace

6. Stages of Development Sensorimotor Stage Birth- 2 years
Preoperational Stage years-7 years
Concrete Operational Stage years
Formal Operational Stage and up

7. Sensorimotor Stage Knows the world through movement and sensations
Learns object permanence
Learns to separate people from objects
Learns that actions cause things to happen

8. Preoperational Stage Language Emerging Egocentric
Learns through pretend play, but struggles with logic

9. Concrete Operational Stage
Begins to think logically
Understand conservation
Thinking more organized
Develops friends
Struggles with abstract thinking

10. Formal Operational Stage
Thinks abstractly
Thinks morally, philosophically, ethically, socially, politically
Deductive thinking
Can find multiple solutions

11. Active Process “I believe knowing an object means acting upon it,…”
“We are not passive recipients of knowledge, but actively involved in investigating and experimenting as we build understanding of how our world works….”
Jean Piaget

12. What Does All This Mean?
We Can’t Change Development, BUT We Can Change the Quality of the Experiences That Children Receive The Quality of the Child’s Experiences determines how well and how thoroughly the wiring in the brain is complete

13. Mystery Object

14. #1 Children have an intrinsic desire to make sense of the world.
Principle #1
Children have an intrinsic desire to make sense of the world.
PHOTOS [sec jpg, Connie Wilkinson’s classroom (no code)]
Project Construct National Center

15. Slime

16. Principle #2
Children actively construct knowledge and values by interacting with the physical and social worlds.
PHOTOS (sec jpg, sec jpg)
Project Construct National Center

17. The Story of Spilled Milk

18. Principle #3
In their universal effort to understand the world, children’s thinking will contain predictable errors.
PHOTOS (sec jpg, sec jpg)
Project Construct National Center

19. Principle #4
Children’s development is an interactive and interrelated process...
PHOTOS (sec jpg, sec jpg)
Project Construct National Center

20. Principle #4
...and spans the Sociomoral, Cognitive, Representational, and Physical Development domains.
PHOTOS (sec jpg)
Project Construct National Center

21. The primary aim of the Project Construct approach is to help teachers foster the development of each child as an autonomous individual.

22. decide between right and wrong decide between truth and untruth
think for oneself
decide between right and wrong
decide between truth and untruth
consider all relevant factors when making decisions
make decisions independently of reward and punishment
decide between truth and untruth “using one’s own experiences and knowledge”
Kamii, C. (1992). Autonomy as the aim of constructivist education: How can it be fostered? In D. G. Murphy & S. G. Goffin (Eds.), Understanding the possibilities: A curriculum guide for Project Construct (p. 9). Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Project Construct National Center

24. Project Construct Classroom
Learning Centers

28. Project Construct is aligned with developmentally appropriate state and national standards.

29. Story of Classroom A and B

30. It’s all about Thinking
Questions?

31. Children Deserve the Best You Can’t Rewind Childhood