Research On Kilpatrick's Project Method

This dissertation chooses project method as the studying object,which is proposed by William Heard Kilpatrick,a famous American educationalist.It explores where the project method originates and investigates what the content and the practice of the project method are.Then it provides the dilemma of implementation of the project method nowadays and the illuminating enlightenments on subject teaching and inquiry-based learning.During the studying process,the dissertation has used the research methods such as literature review,historical research and case study.Based on the illustration and analysis of the two cases that are experiments of the Primary School Affiliated to Nanjing Higher Normal College and the Primary School Affiliated to the First Normal Collage of Jiangsu Province,this dissertation reflects the significant and limits of the project method.This dissertation is divided into five sections;details as follows:Section 1:it introduces the motivation and significant of this study reviews relevant literatures and proposed the problems to be solved.Section 2:it illustrates the biographical experiences and the background,analyzes the relationship between the project method and the progressive education movement,and finally discusses the theoretical originates of the project method.Section 3:it elaborates the aim,methodology and content of the project method,generalizes the criticism from other researchers and the development of Kilpatrick himself and then proposes three opinions on its ideological values.Section 4:it reviews the practice of the project method in America,China and other countries,especially in China.Two cases,the Primary School Affiliated to Nanjing Higher Normal College and the Primary School Affiliated to the First Normal Collage of Jiangsu Province,are chosen in order to think about the benefits of the project method in practice.Besides,the author critically reviews the dilemma of implementation from the aim,method and content.Section 5:relied on the study of thought and practice of the project method,the author has obtained the project method's illuminating enlightenments on subject teaching and inquiry-based learning.They are mainly about creating the surroundings fit for students'activities and study,emphasizing the experiential continuous,paying attention to concomitant learning and concerning student's body.