Project Zero

&
Smart
Schools
Group members:
Holly
Danielle
Natalija
Heather

Video clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0E

dtT6Un4

History of Project Zero

Project Zero was founded by the

philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1967 at
the Harvard University

Goodman based his research on studying

arts and how to improve art education

History of Project Zero

Project

Zero is working on building

communities that will consist of
individuals who are able to become
reflective, independent learners

Use

skills of deep understanding within

disciplines

History of Project Zero

In Project Zero, the learner is placed in the

center of educational process, while the way he/
she learns is respected

Individuals learn at their own pace

Different ways in which the learner perceives

the world around them as well as how they
express their ideas are highly considered factors

History of Project Zero

Howard

Gardner and David Perkins

served as the co-directors at the Project
Zero from 1972 to July 1,2000

Howard Gardner

David Perkins

Smart Schools

7 Key Principles
Description

7 Key Principles
Description

7 Key Principles
Description
3.Focus

on understanding, emphasizes
the importance of exposing students to
work that builds and demonstrates deep
understanding

7 key principles continued

4.

Teaching for mastery and

transfer revolves around teaching
techniques that model, scaffold and
motivate students to connect what they
know to the new information they are
learning . It is more likely that students
will learn well and apply what they have
learned

7 key principles continued

5.Learning

centered assessment
reassures that students take direct
responsibility for the quality of their
work and as well the quality of what
they are learning

7 key principles continued

6.Embracing complexity refers to

students being exposed to learning
situations that will help them build skills
when it comes to complex tasks. By
working through this they will develop
sense of excitement when being exposed to
difficult problems in the future. Basically
students are thought how to deal with
complex situations by using their skills of
insightful thinking and deep understanding.

7 Key principles continued

7.The

school as a learning
organization refers to the school and
administration as a living organism that
should grow and develop in the same
way that the student is expected to
thrive
It should be a partnership that is
balanced on all sides where all
participants have an equal say what
goes into the curriculum for the benefit
of the child

David Perkins Philosophy

Perkins

is also an author who outlined a

majority of his educational philosophy in
the books entitled Smart Schools and
Making Learning Whole.

David Perkins Philosophy

In

Making Learning Whole Perkins used

baseball an analogy to further express his
point of whole learning, and engaging the
whole child as a full participant in his/her
learning.

Learning

by wholes is very constructivist,

embracing the idea that learners always in
some sense construct their own meanings
from learning experiences. (Perkins, 2010)

David Perkins Philosophy

Play the whole game

Much of formal education is short on threshold

experiences. It feels like learning the pieces of
a puzzle that never gets put together, or
learning the puzzle with out being able to
touch the pieces.
(Perkins, 2010)

David Perkins Philosophy

Make the game worth playing

Artful teachers use many other ways to

connect learners with whats interesting about
a topic.
(Perkins, 2010)

Work
on the
hard parts
David
Perkins
Philosophy
Real improvement depends on deconstruction
the game, singling out the hard parts for
special attention, practicing them on the side,
developing strategies to deal with them better.
(Perkins, 2010)

Play
out of Perkins
town
David

Philosophy

In order for understanding to happen, children

need to be able to transfer learning from one
context to another.
(Perkins, 2010)

Uncover
the
hidden game
David
Perkins
Philosophy
Digging below the surface to gain better
understanding, i.e. analyzing, questioning,
clarifying.
(Perkins, 2010)

Learn
from Perkins
the teamPhilosophy
and the other
David
teams
Its actually very hard to learn well from a
single source, from a passive text or from a
teacher who has many others to attend to
besides yourself.
(Perkins, 2010)

David Perkins Philosophy

Learn the game of learning

Allow students to be in charge of their own

learning by letting them take the drivers seat
and not just sit passively as passengers.
(Perkins, 2010)

Perkins interview
Your

basic argument is that school learning is often

like learning to bat without knowing the whole
game of baseball. Can you give me an example?

When

kids learn math in a conventional way, they practice

the computational skills but often dont develop a very
good sense of what math is for or how to use it. We know
this because many youngsters have a hard time picking
out what operation to use is this a plus situation, a
minus situation, a times situation? Theyve been
practicing their batting without developing a sense of the
whole math game.

Perkins interview
Do we ever use the whole learning approach in
schools to teach?
We do sometimes teach the whole game, particularly
around subjects often and unfortunately in my view
considered more marginal: athletics, music, the arts.
Also, ideally children first learn about reading by being
read to a lot, so they have a sense of the whole game,
and as they develop their decoding skills they soon
practice on simple small-scale texts that nonetheless try
to be interesting and meaningful.

6 SmART School Design

Elements

1.

Teach the arts to every student, every

classroom, every day!

2.

Teach for Understanding in and

Through the Arts

6 SmART School Design

Elements
3.

Develop culturally responsive classroom

practices

4.

Foster a personalized, safe, and

inclusive school culture that promotes
social justice.

6 SmART School Design

Elements
5.

Cultivate arts-centered professional

learning communities

6.

Build partnerships among family, school,

community, arts and cultural organizations

David N. (2010). Making Learning Whole: How

References
Seven Principles of Teaching Can Transform Education,

Perkins,

John Wiley & Sons

http://www.pz.harvard.edu/
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/research/Research.htm
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/research/SmartSch.htm
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/teaching/TC326.html