Importance of Project Work in Institutions

Introduction

Education is a lifelong journey. It is a way to understand the world around us and connect with it on a practical level. Anything that aids and abets that process can be considered an elementary tool in the long-winded leadup to it. There are several such tools at the disposal of an educational institution today. One of these is the concept of project work. 

What is Project Work?

Project work can be defined as a method of learning that involves learning through tangible means like doing individual research and presenting it in a certain way. It inculcates, promotes, and upholds the principles of learning through experience and experimentation.

Project work can be seen as the experiential learning process in action - a sort of experience that is both holistic as well as educational in the right context and when used right. A lot of students, however, find it irritating that they have to do project work, especially school students. They feel that they are already overburdened by the cognitive load of the education system and project work only adds to it. However, this is not the case. There are a lot of advantages to using project work as a tool for teaching and learning in schools. 

Advantages of Project Work in School

Here are some of the reasons why project work is a very important aspect of education today:

Improves Cognition

Cognition refers to the process of learning through thought, experimentation, and human perception. It involves all aspects of intellectual processes and functions like intelligence, attention, perception, thought, memory, judgment, evaluation, reasoning, and so on. Such cognitive processes make use of existing knowledge in order to discover new knowledge. In this context, project work enhances and helps improve a person’s cognitive abilities and making them sharper and more profound over time. Project work essentially accentuates a person’s cognitive abilities and makes them better learners.

Gives Them Practical Experience

The main idea behind project work is to make sure that the learner does their own research and comes up with practical solutions to the concept they are trying to learn or the problem that they are trying to solve. Using project work as a tool to achieve that ensures that the students get to experience it first hand instead of just learning it in theory. There is a certain sense of satisfaction that one achieves when they learn something through practical experience - it will remain with them for a very long time. Since they have practically done it every step of the way, they will not only know the end result but also the different possible ways to go wrong while doing that particular activity. This gives the learner an opportunity to learn not just how a particular thing has to be done but also the process of doing it right so that they won’t repeat the mistakes again.

Tests Their Aptitude

One of the most important aspects of learning is the process itself and what they can learn from it. A person’s aptitude is the proficiency with which they are able to do something. Different people have different aptitudes, and the more the aptitude they have for something, the more likely they are at succeeding at it. One must be able to identify what their aptitude is in order to practice it and eventually become good at it. When committing to something like a particular project, the student will get to know first-hand what their strengths and weaknesses are and accordingly identify what they are good at. Once they have that set in stone, they can then focus on improving upon their strengths and reducing what they deem weaknesses. This kind of learning is extremely beneficial in the later stages of life because it helps them find the perfect line between what they can and cannot do, and more importantly, what they want and don’t want to do.

Cultivates Time Management Skills

When project work is assigned to a class, they are often time-bound. There will be a start date and a date for submission, which means that the students will have to create and follow a timetable for making the best use of the time available. Using a timetable maker, the students can plan out their time and do something accordingly.

Project Work - Tips for Students

Project work is solely for the students to learn on their own, but there are certain things students need to keep in mind when working on it. Some of these are given below:

• Make sure that the submission is made within the due date. More often than not, project work is associated with internal marks that the students will have to acquire in order to qualify for the main exam. So the time management aspect of such a project should not be overlooked.
• Presentation matters a lot when it comes to project work. The design of the project should be such that it should look aesthetically pleasing while at the same time, minimalistic and professional.
• If the project work is assigned to a group, plan in such a way that every person on the team knows everything about the project and each person knows their part clearly. Often what happens is that the group will not be well coordinated, and as a result, it will end up with the team fighting among each other and shifting blame. Make sure to avoid this by giving each person a unique set of tasks and making sure to check that each person does their part.
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Conclusion

So project work is a very important part of the education system in general. This is why even though students may find it time-consuming and annoying, it must be practiced because at the end of the day, the pros outweigh the cons by a lot.