OURPROUDHERITAGE
Focusing on Projects in the Pages of Young Children
This year marks NAEYC’ s 100th anniversary. NAEYC’ s centennial year offers an opportunity to look back at the organization’ s history, including articles published in Young Children. A number of articles have featured project work or the project approach. A search of Young Children’ s archives for the terms projectbased, project approach, or project method returns over 200 results. One early mention appeared in Young Children in September 1989, in a review of the book Engaging Young Minds: The Project Approach, by Lilian G. Katz and Sylvia C. Chard. In her review, Gail Perry notes that the book both discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the approach and offers firsthand glimpses of teaching in action.
In Young Children, the project approach has been explored in the context of different age groups, settings, and curricular goals. Educators have also offered their own reflections on implementing the approach. The following is just a small sampling of the articles featuring project work in the journal.
›“ Using the Project Approach with Toddlers,” by Debbie LeeKeenan and Carolyn P. Edwards. May 1992. The authors describe key elements of conducting projects with very young children, including a focus on documentation, the emergent nature of teaching and learning, and family involvement.
›“ The Pizza Project: Planning and Integrating Math Standards in Project Work,” by Marilyn Worsley and colleagues. January 2003. This article highlights how the project approach can be used to effectively meet content area standards.
›“ Language and Social Development in a Multilingual Classroom,” by Monique Patè. July 2009. Educators describe how children’ s interests in dinosaurs and block play led to a project that supported their emerging language and social skills.
›“ The Potential of the Project Approach to Support Diverse Young Learners,” by Sallee J. Beneke and Michaelene M. Ostrosky. May 2013. By linking the project approach with Universal Design for Learning, educators can increase the quality of instruction for all children in inclusive classrooms.
›“ Take Me to the Movies! Using Digital Play and Project Work to Spark Young Children’ s Inquiry and Learning,” by Karrie A. Snider and colleagues. Winter 2023. Educators describe how they followed the children’ s lead with instructional purpose through an exploration of technology.
›“ Powering Up: Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning for Young Engaged Citizens,” by Crystal N. Wise and colleagues. Spring 2024. The authors share how they use project-based learning with a social justice focus to develop interdisciplinary instruction across social studies disciplines.
88 Young Children
Fall 2026