William Heard Kilpatrick Project Teaching Method

William Heard Kilpatrick project teaching method

INTRODUCTION.

 Who is William Heard Kilpatrick?

Kilpatrick was known for developing the "project method" and collaborator of John Dewey. He was born on November 20, 1871, son of Reverend Dr. James Hins Kilpatrick and his second wife, Edna Perrin Heard. Kilpatrick’s father was austere, meticulous and devoid of a sense of humor. The Reverend Kilpatrick instilled in his son the habit of bringing a written record of his activities, something that would do the rest of his life. 

 William’s mother partially balanced the austere and sober attitude of her father, learned from her the value of the feeling of belonging and having confidence and self-confidence and security. William Heard Kilpatrick’s first contact with higher education took place in 1888, at Mercer University in Macon (Georgia). 

He was a brilliant student in ancient languages, and later in mathematics, but he had no clear idea of what could be his professional orientation. He obtained a doctorate from Columbia University in 1912. He also studied at Johns Hopkins University. He was a professor of Philosophy of Education, at Columbia University. He died in New York, in 1965.

Developing.

Kilpatrick’s methodology totally contradicts the current memorization methodology. He is based on a constructivist plan where the child has to learn autonomously based on previously acquired knowledge. In addition, we must not separate the contents in matters, if not make everything related to the same base.

Kilpatrick is based on the fact that all learning, apart from the theory must have their practical part, in which students have to get involved in it and develop it for themselves. Makes educational development more effective and enjoyable.

Kilpatrick divides your project into four parts. The first one is to choose the topic on which you are going to study. To do this, we must take into account what are the interests of the students that make up that class. Second, you have to plan the activity to be able to carry it out in an orderly manner. This is a work that the teacher must execute, where through strategies it will plan the activity.

Third, among all, a conclusion will be reached about the work done. For example, on a slide.

After analyzing the entire process we see that throughout this method the teacher is not someone authoritarian or superior to the students, if not someone who guides and helps at the necessary times.

Importance

Kilpatrick’s project method is important since it is a method that focuses especially on the student, which causes a feeling of responsibility in students, which will promote the increase in their autonomy and responsibility.

Very important capabilities are also developed both inside and outside the classroom, such as group work, which increase socialization and values such as companionship or critical thinking, that is, they select what they consider best for realizationof different activities. All this provides great learning that will last forever, so he will be able to prepare them in the future.

Thus, I would prepare them for their jobs, while this method increases motivation, increases their self – esteem, reinforces their individual strengths, that is, they allow them a practical form of the real world to learn to use technology, for example.

To this we must add the millions of students who went through their chair, as well as their education associations and their educational policy, currently their ideas are the most used in American pragmatism and democratic education.

Background

The development of William Heard Kilpatrick’s theory took place in the United States, in 1918, where we can highlight events of aggrandizement and decline of the nation.

For example, during this date, EE. UU began to be a great world power, where in the first place he knew howWorld War. Its duration depends on the countries that are included, but in the majority it began around 1929 and extended until the end of the thirties or early forties).

We also highlight its passage through World War II, where the US takes the opportunity to take a turn and become a world power of great importance, where it not only intervenes to proclaim world peace, but at an economic level. Thanks to the great economic power that the Nation possessed, it was able to control the military, technological, research among others worldwide.

Origin of the theory

Kilpatrick was a university professor who formulated the idea of the project method, the most characteristic of active education. His main work is "Philosophy of Education."

In 1918, Kilpatrick becomes a defender of the movement of the new school, and announced his essay known as "Project Method". This was based on the John Dewey projector method to be able to develop it.

This Kilpatrick method is a theory that defends that theoretical learning needs practice to develop them, and a kind of research project is raised, in which students are like a kind of researchers.

 Historical events that influence theory.

Already as a child, Kilpatrick began to be interested in works such as "the origin of the species" written by Charles Darwin, which contrasted with religious teachings based on the creed, imposed by his family, which caused the disenchantment of their parents to ideas before the ideas before the ideasof Kilpatrick. At that time religion was an important pillar in the lives of American citizens, but he said that, even having rejected religion, his social and moral life would continue intact. 

In the western world, until the S.XVIII, biological thought was dominated by essentialism, which defended that life forms remain immutable over time, but at this time evolutionary science arises, which would attract Kilpatrick. As for pedagogy, Kilpatrick noticed the Swiss pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestazzoli, in this sense, plaguezzoli thought that children should be given the opportunity to learn through activities proposed by them, not as at that time that teachers imposedThe contents to the students, also identified education as an instrument to change the negative aspects of society. 

At this time he first sensed that one of the keys to valid teaching consisted of providing students with significant and interesting experiences that allow them to develop their sense of responsibility. He was also influenced by Francis Parker’s contributions, Kilpatrick attended a Parker Conference in 1892 and came to consider him as the first progressive educator in the United States, a predecessor of John Dewey, at that moment he receives his doctorate at Columbia University.

 PEDAGOGY.

The Kilpatrick project method has seemed an interesting method, the burn has caught my attention has been the use of books as a reference, a limiting knowledge of knowledge since, unfortunately, there are many teachers who close to books and notThey teach their students nothing more than what is on paper.

As for the teaching method, it is very fun that students can explain their classmates educational issues that interest them, under my opinion, teaching Atus companions certain knowledge causes a great assimilation of the contents, especially for whom they are explaining them.One of the inconveniences that the method has is the evaluation, since I think it will always be the teacher who imposes the note, despite the comments of the students, it is also true that all the students will want the maximum note,because they do good or bad work, they will always say that they have done well.

Another aspect to highlight is the development of the critical sense in the student, which helps differentiate itself from others, to have different ideas and conceptions. It also means that each student is free in terms of ideals and thought.When I work in the classroom, I will surely apply brushstrokes of this method, that is, there will be topics that I will explain and topics that students will explain them using this method, for example, I see this method convenient for natural sciences and sciences

Social, since there is a lotin which the contents are more abstract and compared.

After having worked and analyzed the William Heard Kilpatrick method, I have come to the conclusion that it is a very useful method, but at the same time very difficult to apply today the Spanish schools. It is a methodology based on learning through projects and in which the child through research and work, for him he is only able to acquire the necessary knowledge, but right now the educational system that we have in force is not swimming.

Now we rely on acquiring many knowledge, although we will not be able to use them in our day to day. In the school there is a teacher who gives you the theme and you memorize it and then reflect it on a paper and that, two days, and even less you have forgotten you. They care more about a good qualification than what a child has learned in the long teaching-learning process.

For all this and as a conclusion, this method seems great to me and I think we should try to change our law so that there is a more motivating education and notice systematic.

It seems to me an interesting method, especially that students are those who raise a topic to deal with and work, are the center of attention and not for example a textbook on which everything is based. Books are a reference in which to look for information, and not a limitation of knowledge which must be memorized and then writing in an exam.

 In my opinion that is no use, since it is forgotten soon. However, the projects that children work looking for information for themselves in different sources, are instruments that serve students to better understand the topics discussed, assimilate them better and learn a lot more since they are those who are in contact with the issuesand assimilate many concepts with others and so you never forget.

Then also when presenting the project, I see that students show their creativity and the use of different media such as videos, murals … that they have done with the help of the Internet, through the daily news on TV or in thenewspapers, or in libraries, or simply asking relatives. They also prepare so that in the future the fact of presenting a job is not an inconvenience when it comes to knowing how to express themselves, of shame before the public ..

Tomorrow when I am a teacher in a class I would very much to be able to use this method I see it very entertaining and interactive, and in the students some of the most important things to find is the motivation and with these projects I believe that youGet easily, since the student is the source of priority during all projects and throughout the course.

They will learn quickly and easily, with topics of interest, obviously appropriate to their age and to the topics that have to be given according to the school curriculum. They would greatly increase their creativity and be very skilled when expressing themselves. For the evaluation, the self-assessment of the students of students would be taken into account, and under consensus a note would be put. Although on the other hand I would see a little complexity when developing this method in subjects such as mathematics or Spanish language, although everything is to seek adaptations. I would use it in my classes or do something similar for my students not to get bored and had great interest in learning and attending classes with great motivation.

conclusion

In my opinion, the Kilpatrick project method is very good, since, in order to carry out this project, it is necessary to have the ideas and interests of the students. In this way, if we focus the teaching-learning process on something that is attractive, it will be much easier to attract their attention and maintain their motivation in that chosen content. With this method, the teacher, who must be aware of the logical structuring of knowledge.

From the theme chosen, and taking into account the objectives of this subject, attractive activities for students must program the most attractive activities to be as attractive as possible for them. Although the stage that I like most about the project method is the last, the conclusion, since, in this, students must make a mural, a writing, a video of the theme chosen.

In this way, the teacher will realize whether the students have truly learned of all the contents of the theme chosen. And above all if they liked that part, taking into account that the contents have been explained through activities, and that the theme has chosen it, it will be very easy to achieve it.

Bibliography.

• Álvaro l. (2014). Kilpatrick’s project method. (Web Blog Post) 
• The great Depression. (s.F). In Wikipedia recovered on October 24, 2019.
• London e. Beyer (1997), William Heard Kilpatrick, Perspectives: Quarterly Comparative Education Magazine Vol. XXVII.
• Sánchez, J. (2018). The advantages of project -based learning.