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ecsamhill@... writes:

<< **Don't have a lot of expectations about
results, just have fun.**


Maybe THAT'S the downside of the word "project". To me a project seems
to have a defined, expected outcome.

Betsy >>


Well, now, sometimes I want the curtains to hang below the windowsill,
not one inch above it, right? ( Can you tell that what I am doing now?? Stupid
sheers! Impossible to pin straight! ARGH!)

That's my defined, expected outcome. But really, the point is to hem the
sheers. I could do it crooked, or sewn badly, but I have my own standards.
They're not rigid standards, I just want it to look right after all this
planning and work, that's all.

Alex is making a wooden box. He's not sanding down the edges of the
pieces yet, and he'll probably figure out soon that if he wants the end flush to
the other piece, he's gonna hafta sand that puppy down a bit. Because his
project is a box, and he'll want it to look like a box when he's done.

I don't think there is anything wrong with working toward a desired
outcome. People do it in real life. They set goals, and work towards them. They
just don't have to be done by after lunch on Tuesday.

~Aimee

Robyn Coburn

For me the essence of a "project" is that it has many steps or stages to
completion, rather than one or two. I think we use the word lightly and
humorously when a task with small number of steps becomes a project
because of many obstacles - sometimes because of interruptions.
Sometimes for me loading the dishwasher becomes a "project".

In primary (US-grade) school a "Project" was regurgitating encyclopedia
information about the wildlife in Antarctica with illustrations, a
pretty title page and formatted like a picture book. Drawing (or
tracing) got more points than pasting. Neatness counted. It makes me
think of the craft of scrapbooking without the personality. Sometimes it
was making diorama. Presentation was all.

Suddenly in high school, Projects became Assignments, and the many
illustrations needed to be fewer b&w line drawings and the words typed,
and a "Project" was some kind of group produced thing.

Come to think of it, I think we were just recreating the visual style of
the "grade appropriate" textbooks we were using.

Robyn Coburn








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