Chicagoland Project Approach Summer Institute
Thursday, July 23, 2009 - Friday, July 24, 2009
Save the date!
Join nationally-renowned early childhood authors and experts, Dr. Lilian Katz, Dr. Judy Harris Helm, and Dr. Sylvia Chard, along with experienced Project Approach teachers, for two days of interactive workshops and experiences. This unique event will immerse you in the Project Approach, showing you how to engage young children in in-depth investigations, and ultimately making your classroom a more effective learning environment. You’ll gain insight into children’s natural dispositions for learning, how to select appropriate project topics, how to document children’s learning, how project work impacts the brain, and more! Perfect for the novice as well as those more experienced in the project approach. You’ll also have opportunity to explore the rich learning environment of the Museum’s 17 interactive, hands-on exhibits.
Keynote Speakers
 Lilian G. Katz is an international leader in early childhood education. She taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for more than three decades—from 1968 until the year 2000, as well as directing the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE) for more than 30 years. She also was one of the founders of the Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children and served as its first president. In addition, she served as president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) from 1992-1994. Dr. Katz has authored more than 150 publications, including articles, chapters, and books about early childhood education, teacher education, child development, and parenting. She also founded two journals: Early Childhood Research Quarterly and Early Childhood Research & Practice. |
 Judy Harris Helm, Ed.D., is an author and consultant for early childhood and school programs. For over ten years she has used her experience as a teacher, director, and teacher trainer to assist early childhood and elementary schools integrate research and new methods through her consulting and training company, Best Practices, Inc. Dr. Helm is the educational consultant and trainer for the Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago Early Childhood Connections program that supports implementation of the project approach in Chicago Public Schools and the greater Chicago area. She has authored or co-authored many books, including Windows on Learning: Documenting Young Children’s Work; Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years (with Lilian Katz); and Teaching Parents to Do Projects at Home: A Tool Kit for Parent Educators. Dr. Helm is the educational consultant for three new schools that will implement the project approach with children from birth to 8th grade. |
 Sylvia C. Chard is Professor Emeritus of Early Childhood Education at the University of Alberta, Canada. She completed her M.Ed. and Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, and was for nine years Head of the Department of Early Childhood Education at the College of St. Paul and St. Mary in Cheltenham, England. Together with Lilian Katz, she authored the book, Engaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach. She has also written two Practical Guides for Teachers on project work—The Project Approach: Making Curriculum Come Alive and The Project Approach: Managing Successful Projects and published a book of photographs of children around the world with Yvonne Kogan—From My Side: Being a Child. Dr. Chard also maintains www.projectapproach.org, a website on the project approach. |
