In this new and practical contribution to the importance of imagination in learning, Kieran Egan and his colleagues demonstrate how individual contributions to a coherent large-scale project can produce enormous results of great educational value. Helping all participants to feel pride for more than just their own individual work, such Whole School Projects (WSPs) encourage appreciation for the abilities of others and enable everyone involved to recognize that all kinds of learning styles, intelligences, and ability levels play an important part in constructing the whole. Most important, WSPs invigorate student engagement and build community within a school.
The authors describes a program for engaging a whole school in a particular project over a three-year period and outline the educational principles and benefits. Providing examples of schools successfully using WSPs, they examine the detailed practices needed to get such a project up and running in a typical school. While the Whole School Project is distinct from the regular curriculum, it can help achieve many of the year’s curriculum objectives in mathematics, literacy, science and technology, social studies, art, and history. Finally, teachers can choose to incorporate their curriculum aims into the project study, even when those aims include meeting externally mandated achievement standards.
“In this highly original book, iconic curriculum theorist and change agent Kieran Egan sets out a challenging but coherent alternative to the ways schools usually function. For just a few hours every week, all students undertake a Whole School Project together. Egan’s inspiring yet practical strategy will enable you to engage your students, ignite your colleagues, and deepen learning throughout the school. It’s a game changer for progressives and traditionalists alike.”
—Andy Hargreaves, Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education, Lynch School of Education, Boston College
“I have used Egan’s imaginative tools extensively in the classroom and facilitated learners from kindergarten to grade 8 with their Learning in Depth projects, experiencing how engaged and deep the learning becomes. Whole School Projects will continue to expand these proven exemplary practices or, if this is all new to you, it will be a wonderful place to begin!”
—Shannon Shields, vice principal/SBTC, Salt Spring Island Middle School
“Kieran Egan is one of the thinkers on 21st-century learning who is not content to simply wave his hands in the air and invoke the magic of technology. He offers concrete proposals for student-centered learning that are workable in our current school environment.”
—Mark Classen, principal, Harrison Hot Springs Elementary School
