Matthew Moss Student Diary - Project: research, study and develop

Project is a subject that learners mainly work on independently throughout the year. They have to choose their own topic to research, study and develop.

Learners are responsible for their time management to meet specific dates, either set by their teacher or set by them. Meeting deadlines and how to manage time are useful for later life as they teach us skills that are useful for colleges, universities and jobs.

ELLI (Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory) makes a strong connection to Project, as the learner may have come across this in previous years. Here is how the seven skills connect to Project:

• Changing and Learning helps by trying new things, like talking to people and creating a questionnaire.
• Learning Relationships covers independence, so that may be a strength to most learners as they may not always be in groups.
• Resilience is a major strong point in Project, as difficult as it may sound, you should never give up.
• Creativity is another strong point in Project, as the learner can play and experiment with new ideas.
• Meaning Making helps the learner understand their research to make the best out of it and contribute it to the final piece.
• Critical Curiosity helps the learner by going deeper into the research and coming out with a better result.
• Strategic Awareness helps the learner plan their lessons carefully and make the best out of their lessons and how long tasks will take.

Learners have the freedom to choose their own topic to study for the year. A good topic has to be something of a wide variety and has to have a good ‘driving question’ which their teacher has to approve of before the project can commence.

Good examples of driving questions are:

• How do we solve our energy crises?
• How did David Beckham become famous?
• Should houses be built in the countryside to solve the housing shortage?
Topics that they will study may be interesting to the learner, as they may seem to have a little knowledge about their topic to start with, and develop that knowledge over the course of the year. A poor project may be something that isn’t open and so little can be researched about it, which may not last all year.

Learners will also have to use a range of resources to gather information towards their chosen project to earn more marks by the examiner. Using secondary resources may not give all the information required to achieve a high mark, so they will also need to use primary research, which includes surveys and questionnaires to friends, family and teachers for their opinions.

Project can be enjoyable if you have chosen a topic that is interesting and open; and if you try hard you will achieve your GCSE Project qualification.

By Adam Haigh, Matthew Moss High School