What is a project?

“A project is an in-depth investigation of a topic worth learning more about. The investigation is usually undertaken by a small group of [students] within a class, sometimes by a whole class, and occasionally by an individual [student]. The key feature of a project is that it is a research effort deliberately focused on finding answers to questions about a topic posed either by the [students], the teacher, or the teacher working with the [students]. The goal of a project is to learn more about the topic rather than to seek right answers to questions posed by the teacher.” Katz, L. (1994).

Steps for doing the project

1. Topic selection: Students think about a topic taking into account their interests. The most important thing when choosing a topic for the project is that it is of their real interest. Otherwise, they will work unmotivated. The topics can be academic or just of a personal interest.

2. Exploration: What do students know about the topic? Students brainstorm and share what they know about the topic they chose.

3. Questioning: Students answer the question: what do we want to learn? They explore the aspects they want to learn more about and pose specific questions that guide their search. The idea is that they learn about meaningful and purposeful topics.

4. Planning: Students answer: how are they going to learn about the topic? What instruments are they going to use to obtain the information they need. Examples: books, magazines, newspapers, databases, Internet, videos, interviews, questionnaires. The teacher and/or the students define a timetable that sets up a guide of what each person is going to do.

5. Defining the format for the project: Students decide on what they want to do with the information collected. They choose an oral and written format for the project. Some examples of oral formats are: a presentation using visual aids like Power Point or posters, a play, a news, a talk show, a contest, or a game show. Samples of written formats are: an album, a poster, a brochure, a booklet, a didactic game, a big book, a web site, a magazine, or a newspaper. If the format for the project is a video or a play, the oral format is the video and the play itself, and the written format will be the script.

6. Monitoring: It is important that students keep revising how the process of the project is going. They can do this asking for an advisory session in order to receive feedback about the content and the form of the project. Regarding the content, it is important that the text is original; about the form, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, coherence and cohesion should be considered. It is also important to review that the team is accomplishing the dates to do every step of the project, the quality of the work done, and what still needs to be done.

7. Presentation of the project: Students get ready to present the oral and written format of the project. The written format of the project should include: a cover, with the names of the participants, the course, and the date; an introduction, where the aim and the contents of the project are explained; an outline or a table of contents; the contents; the conclusions, where you write what you learned about the topic, doing the project, and working with your partners, and some recommendations for other students to take into account during this work; and finally, the references, the sources of information used for the project. During the presentation students cannot read nor memorize, instead, they should explain their projects in a natural way and include the audience with a planned activity or simply asking some questions at the end of the presentation.

8. Evaluation: the final format of the project will be assessed by the teacher with a quantitative grade, but all the classmates will do peer-assessment. There, they have to give feedback to each group completing three statements: I liked the project because …, I think they have to improve …, My suggestions for them are ….