The Project Journey

Pre-Project:

Teachers brainstormed about the topic and represented in the form of a web

Our Project Journey with Children: The ‘Animals’ Project

Children love to interact with animals and research shows that building connections with the natural world helps children develop important attitudes such as empathy, love, and companionship. So we planned to conduct an in-depth study of animals through the project approach pedagogy.

This was our first experience of conducting the project online during remote laerning, and hence it was quite challenging at the start. However, as time passed we and the children both were able to adapt to the virtual mode of conducting these investigative projects.

Phase 1- Beginning of the Project (Sharing prior knowledge)

We started the project by eliciting prior knowledge and experiences from children through questioning and group discussions. Children were excited to share their thoughts - they not only named the animals like cow, dog, cat, lion, tiger, horse but also talked about the physical characteristics, body parts, colours, places and sounds of animals.

Aarav - "Animals ke four legs hote hai, ek tail hoti hai, aur maathe pe horn hote hai, ears already hote hai." (Animals have four legs, one tail, horns on the head, and ears)

Prisha - "Teacher aa giraffe yellow colour nu hoy, giraffe nu neck motu motu (Long) hoy." (Giraffe is of yellow colour and it has a long neck)


Vitasta: “So many lizards come to my house”


Darsh: “Elephant mare ghare aayu hatu. Four legs hata uper Mahavat hota hai” (Elephant has four legs and he came to my house with a mahout)

Siaan – "Aey jungle ma hoy, pachhi khavanu leva jay, emni maate, baccha maate, pachhi khai jay." (Animals hunt food for themselves and for their young ones in the jungle and then eats them)

Bhavya: “Mene Elephant dekha hai, vo baat nahi karte, hum unke paas jate hai to aawaz karte hai.” (I have seen an elephant, they do not talk but they make noise when we go near them)


Reyan Gandhi: “Piggy oink oink kare.” (Piggy says oink oink)

Through continued discussions, children shared their prior knowledge about the food, habitat and the young ones of the animals. We also elicited their responses on how they thought animals are taken care of.


Maahir “Lion doosre animals ko khata hai aur doosre

animals ko unke mummy papa dete hai aur hum dete

hai.” (Lions eat other animals. Other animals are fed

by their mother, father and by us)


Vishant - "Herbivorous eats leaves, carnivorous

eats meat", "Mumma is herbivorous and I am

carnivorous"


Rishaan: “ Cow ko roti, puri, dog ko biscuit” khilata

hun (I feed chapati to the cow and biscuit to the

dog)


Ayaansh: “Lion deer ne khaye.” (Lion eats deer)


Pratham: “Fish pani me rehti hai, Fish niche se upar

nahi aati hai vo swim karti hai.” (Fish live in water. It

swims inside the water and does not come on the

surface)


Aarsh: “Dog kennel me rehta hai." (Dog lives in the kennel)


Jiyaara: "Khilao, pilao aur unghao." (Taking care of

animals)


Children had few misconceptions related to animals like “Cats can’t climb the tree”,“Lion eats fruits”, “Zebra is a domestic animal”, “Animals baate nahi karte” which were noted and were addressed in Phase 2 by providing hands-on experiences and through dialogues with the teachers.

Phase 2- Developing the Project (Conducting Research):

During this phase, we helped children to go in-depth into the topic through various first hand explorations. We planned inquiry experiences considering gaps in children's existing knowledge, their misconceptions and specific interests.

Exploring Types of Animals and Care of Animals

Children explored animal sounds, textures, habitats, young ones, physical features and few other facts about varied species living in different geographical locations.

  • Technology was widely used to provide these experiences but at the same time children were encouraged to explore their environment with the support of their parents.

  • Online research helped children find answers to their curious questions.

  • Children also explored the topic through stories, music and movement, interaction with resource persons and virtual field trips to the zoo, jungle and the ocean.

A resource person Ms Eva, who works with therapy dogs, interacted with children to share about how animals are taken care of and how animal therapy helps us to become stress free.

Interaction with parents who have pets at home also gave children an idea about care of pet animals. Children not only explored domestic animals but also explored in detail about wild and aquatic animals and how animals are taken care of through videos and powerpoint presentations, stories and rhymes.


Children also shared about how animals help us:

Riyaan: “Dog aapadne protect kare, Sheep gives wool.” (Dog protects us, Sheep gives wool)

Bhaavya: “Dog police ki help karta hai aur vo soonghta hai.” (Dog helps police and he smells us)


Children expressed their new-found knowledge by creating hand puppets of animals using paper bags, indigenous materials, and blocks.


Math concepts were reinforced through data collection and mathematical representations.


An In-Depth Study of Selected Animals


After the general exploration about the types of animals and the care, it was time to do an in-depth study of the animals of children’s interest. Children did a class voting (represented in the form of a pictograph) to identify common animals of their interest for further exploration. There were negotiations in order for children to arrive at a common agreement, and this enhanced their social and language skills.


Each section of children mutually finalized their chosen animal of interest for which they could conduct further investigations and then make a model.


EYP2A: They were initially excited to make an elephant as their project model but the pictograph revealed that the majority of them selected tiger as their individual project model.

Shringeri : “Hu tiger banaish, mumma tiger, papa tiger and baby tiger. Eni jewellery banaish.” (I will make mother, father and baby tiger. I will make jewellery for them.)


Tanush : “Mare tiger lego thi

banavo che.” (I want to make tiger

with Legos)


Arjun: "Mai African elephant aur

Asian elephant banaunga.” (I will

make African and Asian elephants)

Few children wanted to make a zoo post their virtual field trip.

Prisha : “Teacher teacher hu zoo

banaish, ane green color paper

lagavish ane tree banaish.” (I will

make a zoo and will paste the green

colour to make the tree)


Shivaanya: “Main zebra banaunga, usko cage me rakhunga.” (I will make a zebra and keep it in the cage)


EYP2B: A wonderful teamwork was shown when the children were divided in two groups and each group collectively decided to make a ‘Giraffe’ and ‘An elephant’ respectively.

Ayaansh: “Mane baby elephant banavo che ane birthday cake banayish.” (I want to make baby elephant and a birthday cake)

Kiaan: "Main jungle banaunga aur giraffe bhi banaunga.” (I will make a jungle and a giraffe)



EYP2C:This group of children were more keen about aquatic animals.

Jiyaara: “Mane rabbit ane fish game.” (I like rabbit and fish)

Vitasta: “I want to make octopus.”

Children learnt the skills of listening, accepting and respecting thoughts of their peers. Armed with children’s interest and knowledge, it was time to finalize their model. They created the blueprint and clay models as their prototype.

Teachers and parents also carefully documented the anecdotes of children based on their observations of children.

Phase 3- Concluding the project (Consolidating learning):

This phase was exciting for us as it focused on helping children consolidate their learning and give a concrete shape to their understanding.

Through group discussions, children recalled their entire project journey and also shared their learning with peers. They shared their likes and dislikes from the project and represented their learning in the form of a model where they made their own blueprint, chose the materials and finally gave shape to their model.

Children made models using different materials creatively like clay, poster colours, Legos, newspapers, empty cartons, colour tapes, tassels, nails for the accessories of tigress, paper cups, color paper, ice-cream sticks, coconut husk, etc. They also took pride in sharing the process of how they made their models.

Shringeri shared, “Hun tiger ne kapda pehrais ane necklace pehrais” (I will make my tiger wear clothes and accessories) and Mishka said, “Hun giraffe ne cage ma rakhis.” (I will keep giraffe in a cage)


Aahan said, “I will make white tiger” and Tanush made a Tiger with legos and he also made a bed for the tiger.

Pratham: “Ma’am clay lagane se tree girega nahi.” (Tree can stand still with clay)

Bhaavya: “Ma’am ye chikni mitti hai, chichip hoti hai.” (This clay is very sticky)


Jiyaara: “Round circle banayu, fin banayi, scale banayu.” (I made circle, fin and scales)


Rishaan: “ Waves banayenge, blue se hath (Octopus), ye eyes ke baad hath blue se.” (I will make waves, after eyes, arms of octopus with blue colour)


This whole process of model making helped children to think critically as well as creatively. It helped them to develop their problem-solving skills, decision making skills, imagination and creativity. This was a perfect end to an exciting research project!


While we were happy that the project approach was conducted during remote learning, we still missed the physical interactions and project exploration with children. We are proud of our children, our parents and our entire team for making the impossible possible during the pandemic.

From,

EYP 2 Teachers

EYP A: Ami Soni and Darshana Darji

EYP B: Dipali Shah and Niti Sharma

EYP C: Jaylaxmi Rajpurohit

Academic Coordinator: Pooja Kapur