Running a project class with the free project guides

Why project periods are worth the effort

Project work is where science, maths and language meet. Students plan, build, measure, record and explain, which are the skills that the NCERT books keep asking for through activities, and which a written test only partly reveals. With a full syllabus and large classes, teachers worry about time. A well-planned project unit of three or four periods, built on a ready guide, takes much less preparation than designing one from scratch.

The free detailed guides on this site are written for this purpose. Each has a summary of the science, a materials list with approximate costs, numbered steps, a diagram, troubleshooting, an observation table, sample viva questions and a report outline. You can print one per group or project it on a screen.

Choose the guide

Match the guide to your class, the chapter you are teaching and the materials you can collect. Check the class band shown on each guide and the working time. A few examples: the balloon-powered car fits force and motion in the middle primary classes; the cardboard circuit board and the lemon battery fit electricity in classes 6 to 8; the layered water filter and the self-watering planter fit environment topics; the Pythagoras puzzle model fits geometry in classes 8 and 9. The project finder offers more than a thousand ideas if you want something different.

Read the guide fully before the first period, and make the model yourself once if you can. You will find the places where students are likely to struggle and you will know how long the build really takes.

A four-period plan

1. Period 1, question and planning: introduce the science idea with the guide's summary, divide the class into groups of four, give roles (builder, recorder, tester, speaker) and ask each group to list materials and predict what will happen.
2. Period 2, build: groups follow the numbered steps. You move around, ask questions and handle any sharp or hot step yourself. Keep a spare set of parts for groups who fall behind.
3. Period 3, test and record: groups run the test, fill in the observation table, make a simple graph or bar chart, and try one change to see what happens. Discuss the results with the class.
4. Period 4, explain and assess: groups present for two minutes and answer viva questions. Students write the short report using the outline in the guide.

Materials without stress

Send the materials list home a week early, with a note that waste items such as bottles, cardboard and straws are welcome. Ask the students to bring one item each, so that no family pays much. Keep a school box of common items: tape, scissors, glue, rubber bands, cells, wires and a ruler. Where a family cannot afford an item, quietly supply it from the box. Remember that the materials are the means and the thinking is the goal.

Safety in the classroom

Each guide carries its own safety notes. Read them aloud before the build begins.

• Do cutting of thick or hard materials, hot glue and any heat yourself or with a trained helper.
• Use only low-voltage cells. No mains electricity in student projects.
• Keep students seated while working and keep walkways clear.
• Tie back long hair, and keep loose clothing away from tools.
• Tell students never to taste, sniff or drink from any project material.
• Know the school's first aid arrangements, and keep a box in the room.

Make the recording count

Teach students that a project is evidence of thinking. The observation table in each guide is the heart of it. Ask groups to record what they actually saw, not what they expected, and to repeat a test at least three times. Practise reading a table: which result is highest, what do you notice, what might explain it? For classes 8 and above, include a simple graph and a sentence on possible errors.

Questions that deepen learning

During the build and test, ask questions rather than telling.

• What do you think will happen if we change this? Why?
• How could we make the test fair? What must stay the same?
• What went wrong, and how did you fix it?
• Where do we use this idea in daily life?
• How could the model be improved?

Display and the viva

End the unit with a small display. Each group places its model on a desk with a title card, a labelled diagram, a results table and three lines on the idea. Other groups walk around as visitors and ask questions from a list. This builds confidence for the school exhibition and trains students to listen as well as speak. The sample viva questions in each guide give a ready start.

After the unit

Collect a few reflections: what was the hardest part, what did you learn, what would you change? Keep photographs of the work with the students' permission, and consider keeping the best models for the school corridor. If students are keen, this is a good moment to start a science club, which our next articles describe.