Project Zero
Project Zero (PZ) is a research organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. People who have never heard of Project Zero typically ask us about our name, "Why Project Zero?" So we'll begin by telling you that story.
Back in the late 60s, our founder Nelson Goodman, a philosopher of the arts, was concerned about the status of the arts in schools. He believed that, unless the arts were seen to be as serious a cognitive or academic pursuit as disciplines such as science (remember, this was the post-Sputnik era), mathematics, and literature, they would never have a secure place in schools. So, along with two young research assistants--Howard Gardner and David Perkins--he began to do basic research around the topic of arts and cognition. No research in this area existed at the time, so they were starting from zero. Thus the name, Project Zero.
We have come a long way since then. Not only has much been learned about the role that the arts can and do play in thinking, teaching, and learning, but we have expanded our inquiry into many other disciplines and contexts for learning. What unites all of our seemingly diverse projects is the desire to better understand such questions as, "What is worth learning for today, tomorrow, and the future..."
For more information about Project Zero's current research, please feel free to peruse our brochure.
Back in the late 60s, our founder Nelson Goodman, a philosopher of the arts, was concerned about the status of the arts in schools. He believed that, unless the arts were seen to be as serious a cognitive or academic pursuit as disciplines such as science (remember, this was the post-Sputnik era), mathematics, and literature, they would never have a secure place in schools. So, along with two young research assistants--Howard Gardner and David Perkins--he began to do basic research around the topic of arts and cognition. No research in this area existed at the time, so they were starting from zero. Thus the name, Project Zero.
We have come a long way since then. Not only has much been learned about the role that the arts can and do play in thinking, teaching, and learning, but we have expanded our inquiry into many other disciplines and contexts for learning. What unites all of our seemingly diverse projects is the desire to better understand such questions as, "What is worth learning for today, tomorrow, and the future..."
For more information about Project Zero's current research, please feel free to peruse our brochure.