Big Ideas Compared to the Project Approach
The project approach, as developed and described by Katz and Chard (2000) and Helm (2001), involves the development of curriculum around ideas in by children and teachers that result in projects, which are activities engaged in by groups of children and that are connected by a topic or theme. While some of the criteria that are described by Katz and Chard may apply to the criteria for a big idea, I conceive of big ideas as encompassing numerous projects. For example, the next chapter I describe projects embedded in the work around the big idea of light, projects involving the study of shadows and contrast. A project could initiate classroom's work on the big idea, by provoking interest and intrigue. Children could begin to explore the big idea of light, for example through the initial activity of constructing and performing a puppet show with shadow puppets, itself a large scale project. A project could also come out of the exploration of light. So, after a group of children have experimented with flashlights in a dark room, children might become intrigued by mirrors and reflection, resulting in a project on mirrors.