Transporting Pedagogy: Implementing the Project Approach in Two First-Grade Classrooms

Abstract

This study explores how a project-based approach, based on gifted education pedagogy, was implemented in a public school program where the majority of students were from low-income families. The 2 first-grade teachers in this study were able to change their teaching practices to include more strategies commonly found in gifted programs such as brainstorming, creating surveys, and collecting data. The teachers also indicated a greater comfort level with a child-centered and project-based approach to curricular units over the course of the study. In addition, classroom observations indicated students were better behaved when engaged in project and small-group activities, as seen in classroom observations. This paper also highlights several challenges to implementing project-based approaches in the early childhood classroom. Teachers in this study perceived barriers to implementing the project approach that they had been taught in their professional development course. They felt constraints from their school context, as well as from their own beliefs and assumptions about their students. They often had difficulty assuming the role of facilitator and releasing control of learning to the students. However, as the teachers in this study implemented the new approaches, they were able to overcome many of the internal and external limitations that they expressed prior to beginning the units. This study has practical implications for reform initiatives related to the identification of strengths and talents in students who are typically underserved in gifted programs.