Cultivating Children’s Agency and Collective Creativity in Project-based Science Learning

This study will analyze collective creativity in project-based science learning for UCLA Lab School Intermediate Level students. The UCLA Lab School’s approach to curricular design combines academics with rich real-world experiences and thought-provoking activities to encourage children’s ideas, creativity, and imagination, while also providing a strong academic foundation for intellectual inquiry. Research will document how this type of educational innovation helps children develop creativity and agency. For the purpose of studying children’s learning processes and development, classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students will be conducted during the 2013 fall and 2014 winter quarters. In addition, students may be videotaped as they interact with teachers or their peers during learning activities, in order to examine their work, learning processes, and development (If parents have not consented for their child to be videotaped, then she or he will not be filmed). The research is expected to start in October 2013. As parents have already signed the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form, they are not required to sign any additional forms at this time. This study will be conducted by Katsuhiro Yamazumi, Ph.D., UCLA Visiting Scholar at the Department of Education, GSE&IS and Professor of Education at Kansai University, Japan. He will be working with his UCLA Faculty Sponsor, Professor Noel Enyedy, Ph.D., Director of Research at UCLA Lab School/CONNECT. Any questions about this study should be directed to Katsuhiro Yamazumi, Ph.D. (kyamazumi@ucla.edu or kyamazum@kansai-u.ac.jp).