Learning
Reinvented
Conference participants gathered at a reception in the outdoor courtyard at QVMS .
Quaker Valley School District brings international education conference Project Zero to Pittsburgh .
By Nicole Tafe / Photos courtesy of Angela Conigliaro
In May , educators from all over the world gathered at Quaker Valley School District and throughout the Pittsburgh area for the Project Zero Perspectives conference .
The conference theme was “ Making- Innovating-Learning ,” and explored the attributes of effective learning environments with a special focus on creativity , the arts and the maker movement . The two-day event offered both large and small group settings in which educators were able to explore pedagogical tools , strategies and frameworks developed at Project Zero — each addressing one or more of the following strands : Encouraging Creativity and Maker Thinking in Children , Making Learning and Thinking Visible and Teaching for Understanding .
Quaker Valley became associated with Project Zero in an effort to rethink education . “ We had strong afterschool programs that were growing rapidly and informing us that school — how we think about it and how we
Students Georgia Williams , Zahra Udaipurwala , Stella Christensen , This Ferderbar and Ruby Hale .
Educators from all over gathered to make , innovate and create . go about it — could look very different ,” says QV teacher Jeff Evancho who , while earning his doctoral degree from the University of Pittsburgh , focused specifically on afterschool programming . “ My colleagues ( Heidi Ondek , Sean Aiken and Lynn Sopp ) and I discovered Project Zero at a Harvard summer institute and we all had the most profound learning experience . We decided we had to begin the journey of bringing Project Zero research and ideas to QVSD .”
Their journey has lasted roughly five years , and this year QVSD is proud to host the international conference . “ We are beyond excited for the entire QVSD faculty to receive an experience similar to what we did at the Project Zero summer institute in Cambridge ,” says Evancho .
The philosopher Nelson Goodman at the Harvard Graduate School of Education founded project Zero in 1967 as a means to study and improve education in the arts . Over the years , Project Zero has maintained a strong research agenda in the arts , while gradually expanding to include investigations into the nature of intelligence , understanding , thinking , creativity , ethics and cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural thinking . The organization has conducted dozens of major research initiatives , published more than 90 books as well as hundreds of articles and reports , and collaborated with countless partners . Project Zero ’ s work takes place nationally and internationally in a variety of settings .
“ Our relationship and experience with Project Zero has helped us develop the skills and capacities to better meet the learning needs of all children ,” says Evancho . Project
QVMS students helped participants create personalized buttons at the post-conference reception .
Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education represents a national partnership that helps us at the local school level to develop professionally , which in turn has enormous positive implications for the children we serve . This same partnership has allowed us the opportunity to invite our neighboring colleagues into our collective learning and , by doing so , we are all learning from each other and enhancing a learning ecosystem unlike any other .”
Evancho , his colleagues and QVSD plan to continue the relationship with Project Zero following the international conference and hope to continue to be a hub for dissemination of research and ideas related to deeper learning for all .
“ In times of increasing complexity within the educational systems including budgets , learning pathways , state and federal mandates and more , it is important to think about concepts in new and different ways ,” says Evancho . “ It is also important to develop healthy relationships with organizations that have the capacity to help us navigate the complexity of school in new ways . Project Zero allows for a partnership with a worldclass research institute that will help us learn about learning , and there are benefits to this , both for Quaker Valley and for Project Zero .”
For more information about Project Zero , visit pz . harvard . edu / who-we-are / about . For more information about the international conference that took place at QVSD , visit qvsd . org / page . cfm ? p = 6189 . n
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