PROJECT METHOD
Project method is based upon the ideas of the great American educationalist, Mr. John Dewey. The credit of developing these ideas into a method goes to Mr. William Kilpatrick. According to him ‘A project is a whole hearted purposeful activity, proceeding in a social environment’
According to Stevenson : “A project is a problematic act carried to completion in its natural setting”.
According to Dewey, Children should be given education to satisfy their needs of life and the school should function like a mini society in which and through the students would acquire education by engaging themselves in a variety of group projects nothing is forced upon children .The teacher acts only as a guide.
Steps in project method
- Providing a situation
- Choosing the project
- Planning the project
- Executing the project
- Evaluation of the project
Merits
- It gives freedom to children
- It enable the children to learn from their own experience
- It is free from the defects of the text book method
- It is a natural method of acquiring knowledge
- It gives training in social adjustment
- It gives training in democratic way of living
- It trains the children in solving problems
- It helps the teacher to understand his pupils
Demerits
- It hampers the completion of syllabus
- There is a possibility of giving more importance to less importance
- It may lead to unsystematic learning
- It may lead to monopolization by some students
- It may disturb the school working system
- It increases work load of teachers
- It is an expensive method
