If your neighborhood school announces that it is introducing a new kind of instruction centered around student projects, you'll want to visit Teachers College Record's website, TCRecord.org, which this week reprises a 1921 symposium on the project method called "Dangers and Difficulties of the Project Method and How to Overcome Them." We recommend "Projects and Purposes in Teaching and Learning" by William C. Bagley, which discusses three dangers of relying on the project method: a reduction in our ability to retain what is learned, an exclusive emphasis on the instrumental value of knowledge, and a de-emphasis of non-purposive learning. Surf to http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=3983
