ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE : MODERN METHODS 267
- Tolerance
Discussion engenders toleration for views, which are at variance from those one holds.- Discovering Leaders
Discussion helps the teacher in discovering students with a potential for becoming
genuine leader.
- PROJECT METHOD
The most concrete of all types of activity methods Project method provides learning
experiences suited to individual differences. Now here is a question that what is a project?
We can explain in these words that project is an activity willingly undertaken by the pupils
for the solution of a felt problem and leading to learning as prescribed in the curriculum.
It is concrete activity directed towards the learning of a significant skill or process. Having
a wide connotation project includes any activity like dramatics, pageants, making models,
drawing maps and charts, collecting pictures, preparing scrap books, going on historical
tours and exhibitions, preparation of Environmental Science wall newspaper, organization
of debates, etc. The project method transcends the subject -barrier because it is possible to
learn some literature, mathematics, art, etc., also while undertaking a project of
Environmental Science.
Basic Principles of the Project Method
- Activity: The project involves mental or motor activity.
- Purpose: Project should be purposeful, a felt need of the pupils.
- Experience: Project should provide varied type of experiences to the pupils such as
manipulative, concrete, mental, etc. - Reality: Project should provide real experiences.
- Freedom: the pupils should be free to undertake the different activities connected
with the project. - Utility: the activities undertaken in a project should be useful.
Steps of Project Method
- Providing a situation
First of all, the project provides a suitable situation where the pupils feel a spontaneous
craving for carrying out a useful activity through conversation, discussion or exhibition of
pictures and models etc. the teacher discovers the interests, needs, tastes and aptitudes of
the children. While telling a story or taking the pupils out on a field trip initiates the pupils
to the world of projects, they are exposed to so many situations and they determine the
selection of the project. Enough opportunities should be given to the children to express
their ideas and to have discussions among themselves, as well as with the teacher. The
situations or problems provided to the pupils should be social as these provide better social
training and greater satisfaction.
- Choosing
One of the important duties of the teacher is to so guide the pupils that they may
choose a good project.