DEVELOPING COOPERATIVE CHARACTER TO CHILDREN THROUGH PROJECT APPROACH (PA)

Abstract

Early age is a very important period and often called ‘The Golden Age’. At this age, a good character should be really emphasized. There are various unique characters possessed by children and must be developed and accustomed by teachers, one of them is a cooperative character. This character is permissible applying in teaching and learning process. One approach can contribute to developing a cooperative character for children during school is through a Project Approach (PA) pioneered by Katz and Chard (2000) which consists of three phases. The first phase is the discussion about the topic to be chosen according to children interest, the aim of this phase also to know children's experience and prior knowledge. In the second phase, the teacher arranges opportunities for children to do fieldwork and meet experts to answer children's questions. On the other hand, in the last phase of this approach, they begin to make a final project and will be assessed and presented to other people, such as friends, teachers, school administrators or parents. While running all phases in this Approach, children will cooperate with friends, teachers, school administrators and also with their parents in providing tools and materials, giving ideas or anything for learning activities through the PA.

Keywords: Cooperative Character, Early Childhood, Project Approach (PA)