What You Will Learn

Create classrooms, instructional materials and out-of-school learning environments that promote deep learning and understanding.

Program Overview

Whether teaching or leading curriculum design efforts, it is essential for educators to be responsive to complex social developments and create learning experiences that are engaging and exciting for children. How do you best prepare young people for a future that is hard to imagine? How do you teach for the kind of deep understanding that allows them to solve complex problems and do work that is ethical, excellent and engaging? How do you encourage students to fall in love with learning?

The Project Zero Classroom details various frameworks that enable you to look at teaching analytically, develop new approaches to planning and make informed decisions about instruction. You will learn to recognize and develop students' multiple intellectual strengths; encourage students to think critically and creatively; and assess student work in ways that deepen learning. In a Project Zero classroom, teachers are also learners who model intellectual curiosity and rigor, interdisciplinary and collaborative inquiry, and sensitivity to the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of learning.

Program Objectives

The institute addresses fundamental educational questions, such as:

• How can we best inspire and nurture creative thinking and problem solving in our students and ourselves?
• What is understanding, and how does it develop?
• What are the roles of reflection and assessment in student and teacher learning?
• How can participants continue to share and pursue their understanding of Project Zero's ideas with others after the institute?

Who Should Attend

• PreK–12 educators and administrators, preschool teachers, teacher educators and museum educators
• Participants are strongly encouraged to attend in teams so that they can reflect on ideas together during and after the institute. Individual participants are also welcome

Learning in this program takes place mainly through collaborative inquiry, small group activities and structured peer interactions. Therefore, fluency in English is essential for participation. Click here for details about this requirement.

Faculty Chair

Steve Seidel is the Patricia Bauman and John Landrum Bryant Lecturer in Arts in Education and Director of the Arts in Education Master's Program at HGSE. He has worked in the areas of arts and education since 1971. With more than 15 years teaching in high schools, he joined Project Zero in 1986, working since then on projects in arts education, alternative assessment, project-based curriculum and school reform. He was lead principal investigator on The Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education. Seidel currently leads the Talking with Artists Who Teach study and is an International Research Fellow at the Tate Museums in London.

Faculty 

Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at HGSE. A recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education and the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, he is a leading thinker about education and human development. He has studied and written extensively about intelligence, creativity, leadership and professional ethics. Gardner’s recent books include Good Work, Changing Minds, and The Development and Education of the Mind and Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons. His latest book Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed was published in the spring of 2011.  

David Perkins is the Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr. Research Professor of Teaching and Learning at HGSE. Recently retired from senior faculty, Perkins is a founding member and senior co-director of Project Zero, an R&D institute operating for more than 35 years at HGSE. He has spoken and published widely on the themes of thinking, understanding and learning. He is the author of several well-known books, including Making Learning Whole, Smart Schools, Outsmarting IQ, The Eureka Effect, and King Arthur’s Round Table.

Enrollment Instructions

Project Zero Classroom is a registration program. Registrants are enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis. This program fills quickly, so we encourage you to register early. Once the program fills, we encourage you to place your name on the waiting list and you will be contacted as soon as we can accommodate you in the program. 

Payment is due within 30 days of your enrollment in the program. If enrollment in the program falls less than 30 days prior to program start date, payment is due upon acceptance.

Fees

The comprehensive program fee includes tuition, all instructional materials and a social event. Participants receive a certificate of participation and a letter confirming clock hours of instruction.

Payment or a purchase order must be received within thirty days of registration and prior to the program start. Participants are responsible for their own travel expenses.

Accommodations

Hotel accommodations are made available to participants at a reduced rate. Rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Detailed program information and accommodation options will be provided to all admitted participants. The Harvard Graduate School of Education is not responsible for non-refundable travel arrangements or other planning expenses incurred. We recommend that you not make lodging and travel arrangements until you are admitted to the program.

Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Reservations: 617-864-1200 or 800-882-1818
Rate: $219 per night, plus applicable taxes
Group Reference Code: HGSE Project Zero or online code HGEPZC2013
Rate valid until July 1, 2013
Visit hotel website

Sheraton Commander Hotel
16 Garden StreetCambridge, MA 02138
Reservations: 1-888-627-7121
Rate: $199  per night, plus applicable taxes
Group Reference Code: PZC (Project Zero) Participants
Rate valid until June, 28 2013
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Harvard Square Hote
l110 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Reservations: 617-491-2222
Rate: $219 per night, plus applicable taxes
Group Reference Code: GSE Project Zero or online code 416763
Rate valid until July 1, 2013
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Doubletree Guest Suites
400 Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02134800-222-8733
Rate: $199 per night, plus applicable taxes
Group Reference Code: HGSE-PZC
Rate valid until June 28, 2013
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English Fluency Requirement

Fluent knowledge of spoken and written English is essential for successful participation in the Project Zero institutes.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education requires all students whose native language is not English, or whose bachelor’s degree is not from a college or university where English is the language of instruction, to have scores of at least 100 TOEFL IBT (250 TOEFL CBT). Since the Project Zero institutes experience requires an English proficiency level equivalent to the graduate level, we expect all participants to meet this standard.

Participants deemed to have insufficient English fluency to successfully participate in the institute may not be awarded a certificate of completion or clock hour letter. We also reserve the right to limit your participation to language appropriate activities. Refunds will not be available in these cases.

Required English Proficiency Guidelines >>

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations must be submitted via fax or email. Full refunds will be given up to 30 days prior to the start of the program. Due to program demand and pre-institute preparations, cancellations received 29–14 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of 10% of the program tuition. Cancellations received within 13 days prior to the start of the program and no-shows are subject to the full program tuition. Please note: cancellation fees are based upon the date the written request is received.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education reserves the right to change faculty or cancel programs at its discretion. In the unlikely event of program changes, the school is not responsible for non-refundable travel arrangements or other planning expenses incurred.

Non-Discrimination Policy

The Harvard Graduate School of Education affirms the right of all individuals to equal treatment in education without regard to age, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, handicap, national origin, or any other factors that are extraneous to effective performance. The Harvard Graduate School of Education will accommodate anyone with disabilities.