Later Childhood/Middle School

Projects That Create a Culture of Achievement for Urban Young Adolescents

Jeanette Allison, Arizona State University West

Reprinted from Focus on Later Childhood and Early Adolescence,
Summer 1996, Vol. 8 #4

Past theories on working with urban students have focused mainly on the learning needs of younger and older students. Consequently, young adolescents' needs have been neglected. Recently, researchers have begun to examine more closely the specific needs of this age group (Hartman, DeCicco & Griffin, 1994; Manning, 1993).

Independent Research Projects can be a useful way to work with urban young adolescents. As they conduct research for these projects, students become "experts" in particular topics. This expertise appears to give the students high social status among their peers. All the while, students continue to learn more about their topics and maintain important social ties with their peers. This combination of social and educational success can produce dramatic benefits for students who otherwise would be classified as low-achievers.

Context of Independent Research Projects: One School's Story

Not so long ago, the young adolescents at Castle Hill Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, appeared to be disengaged from school. Their disengagement was evident not only in their academic and personal lives, but also in how they treated the school environment. Students had written graffiti on school walls and damaged most of the lockers. Discipline and truancy were ongoing problems, as well. Even when students attended classes, making it through each day took tremendous effort from them and their teachers.

About six years ago, a new principal came to Castle Hill who immediately recognized that something had to be done. Some efforts were already underway to assist the primary grades. In the upper grades, however, instructional and curricular approaches were routine and flavorless. Upper-grade teachers also faced other challenges (e.g., chronologically and socially mature students) that complicated their efforts to educate students. In an effort to view students' circumstances as positive challenges, the principal, a university professor and some teachers developed an education approach that embraced students' backgrounds and met the school's goals. The result, Independent Research Projects, are still successfully used today.

What Are Independent Research Projects?

Independent Research Projects are best characterized as guided inquiries, whereby students and teachers work together to examine various topics. Such inquiries involve in-depth investigations, as well as research and performance evaluations. Guided inquiry is ongoing and central to students' understanding and use of the data they encounter. To enrich their understanding, students are encouraged to closely examine various facets of these topics (Allison, in press).

Principles of Independent Research Projects

Seven main principles guided the development of Independent Research Projects, and also formed the rationale for including projects in the program (Haberman, 1991; Maeroff, 1988):

Students learn more rapidly in a community of learners
All students can learn at high levels
In-depth study of concepts enriches learning
Students do not need basic skills before they learn to think critically
Learning is more meaningful when it is integrated
Children will demonstrate their capabilities best in a supportive, non-threatening environment
Families and communities are central components in the learning process

(Hartman, DeCicco & Griffin, 1994).

These principles are consistent with research on the best practices to use with young adolescents. Manning (1993) provides a rationale for the first principle when he addresses communities of learning: "Young adolescents often feel anonymous after their transition from a smaller elementary school to a larger middle level school" (p. 63). This same rationale applies to learning within elementary school. Learning often shifts from a focus on process skills in earlier grades to content knowledge in the upper grades. To maintain educational and social continuity across grades, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development (1989) recommends that young adolescents learn in schools-within-schools. Independent Research Projects offer such communities.

Implementation of Independent Research Projects

The projects typically involve mixed-age groups of 4th- and 5th-grade African American students who live in a large metropolitan inner city. Castle Hill Elementary School is located in the poorest section of the district. Some students have been held back and so are chronologically older than others. Some have advanced social skills because of their associations with older peers.

Teachers, student teachers, community volunteers, parents and school staff participated in the projects. Adults worked with small groups (e.g., one teacher per ten students) as well as with large groups of students. Projects are implemented according to different structures. One week may be devoted entirely to projects, or projects may be offered for extended times, such as three to four weeks in the afternoons. Projects use environments within and beyond the school. Field trips, for instance, are very popular because students meet community members and conduct research outside school walls. Guest speakers may come to the school as well.

The topics students investigate are eclectic. Students choose projects from a changing menu, much like college students select courses from a catalogue. Topics include electricity, dance and movement, Castle Hill Television and black cowboys.

Two Examples of Independent Research Projects

The following provides brief examples of two separate projects: Electricity and Dance. Both projects balanced learning opportunities among individual students, peers and adults. Participants worked on each project every day for one week. Teachers prepared most of the project ahead of time, yet remained flexible according to students' interests. Here is an example of the main events:
Monday: Define topic; discuss research as a method of learning; establish group and individual rules and responsibilities; determine goals for learning that point to an overall performance evaluation; begin K-W-L charts and personal journals.
Tuesday: Begin research; take field trips; refine roles; revise rules and responsibilities; host a guest speaker; collect more resources.
Wednesday: Continue and update research; take field trips; gather more resources; continue journals; host guest speakers; refine roles and responsibilities; evaluate experiences and research data in light of original goals; make initial plans for sharing the project with others during an assembly (i.e., performance evaluation).
Thursday: Reflect on week to date; narrow down research focus; begin making statements about research based on events and data; use statements to develop an artifact to be shared during assembly (e.g., models, murals, re-enactments); begin construction of the artifact; continue journals and other project activities.
Friday: Refine artifact based on revised ideas from research; finish other activities (e.g., computer stories); conclude project by sharing the artifact with others during assembly.

Electricity project. On Monday, participants defined the main concepts about electricity, established a research agenda and responsibilities (individual and team) and developed group rules. On Tuesday, students visited the city's science center. While there, they sought information on phenomena about which they were personally curious. Group discussions of data collected so far took place on Wednesday, as well as a visit from an electric company employee. Thursday involved the older students teaching 3rd-graders about their special electricity subtopics (e.g., conduction). By Friday, the students' knowledge took concrete form in a miniature city that lit upÑcomplete with a battery, electrical wiring, flashlight bulbs, student-made buildings and scenery.

Dance project. The Dance Project's agenda and activities were similar to those of the Electricity Project. The Dance Project, however, involved more field trips and interviewing, which enabled students to talk to dancers and actors and to conduct research using the city's music and book libraries. By Thursday, the students' experiences contributed to a database from which Friday's assembly performance was planned: a dance! The students successfully presented a choreographed dance to the song "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" (on The Lion King soundtrack, Walt Disney Music Company, 1994).

Conclusion

Independent Research Projects are successful for two reasons. First, they provide immediate social benefits. Students rely on each other to create a culminating project. In doing so, they learn cooperation and negotiation skills.

Second, students experience academic success. "Under the guise of 'mucking around,' students are more willing to participate in group research" (Hartman, DeCicco & Griffin, 1994, p. 47). Such research fosters intellectual growth.

Because of these social and academic successes, achievement can simultaneously carry status among peers and create positive learning opportunities. The Projects meet goals of the students, school and community. The overall result is the development of a culture of achievement, helping students to perform better both socially and academically.

Other articles included in this Focus Newsletter issue are:

SAE Launches New Educational Program for Middle Schools.
Getty Launches National Art Event for Middle School Students.

To learn more about how to subscribe to this Newsletter, click in the following link: Focus on Middle School.

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