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When a group of Pre-K educators suddenly brought an empty fish tank into their classroom, children had a lot of questions and many ideas about why it had appeared. In an article by
Andrea Anderson, Jennifer Klutz, and Cindy G. McGaha in Young Children, the authors (who are also the aforementioned educators) describe their intentional (and intentionally mysterious) reasons for giving the fish tank its new home. They hoped to ignite the children’s curiosity in order to lead them in a project that would help them discover new information about fish and habitats.
An important aspect of the project approach is to ensure that children think about and explore their environments. These projects help them feel motivated in how they learn. According to the authors, it works especially well when it is used at the same time as effective teaching strategies, such as questioning and modeling ways to solve problems.
When the authors brought the fish tank into the classroom, they hoped to focus on the use of reflection throughout the project and to give children many opportunities to reflect on their experiences. Their first goal was to discover what children already knew about fish and fish tanks, after which they created visual guides-such as webs-for reference throughout the project. Next, they visited a nearby aquarium, brought an expert to the classroom to speak with the children, and introduced books about fish to help children do their own research. They demonstrated their findings through creating fish and habitats with a plethora of materials. Children began incorporating fish tanks in dramatic play and building aquariums in the block center. The educators and authors noticed that the children’s vocabulary began to change, and they were using words like “fins,” “tails,” and “gills.”
“Part of the project approach highlights democratic decision-making and the value of each person’s background knowledge in helping to make a decision for a group,” they said. “The children had a group meeting and decided it was time to add water to the fish tank. They also voted on which types of plants and fish to add to the tank.”
Children were frequently engaged in reflection through discussion, and sharing their artwork and constructs. Educators took the project a step further and recorded their trip to the pet store during which they bought the fish. Many of the children had never been to a pet store and didn’t know where fish came from.
Educators modeled their methods of reflection as the project progressed. They said, “I wonder,” quite frequently. They recorded stories the children would tell one another and would share them with multiple groups. They found that children needed a number of different opportunities to go beyond simply remembering information in rote form. This helped them make connections and understandings with the world around them. “The project approach helped make what they were learning inside the classroom relatable to what they knew and cared about outside of the classroom.”
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