Preparing learners not just to know things — but to go deeper and do something with what they know.
At TVS, project work isn’t a “special.” It’s not arts and crafts. It’s a core thread woven through every studio, every age group, every day — built on decades of research into how children actually learn.
Is it play? Yes. Is it strategic? Absolutely. Is it rooted in research? Deeply. Project work at TVS is where curiosity, creativity, and collaboration happen in the same moment — and where learners discover what they’re actually capable of.
“The aim of teaching is not to produce learning — but to produce the conditions for learning.”
Loris Malaguzzi · Founder, Reggio Emilia Learning Approach
“When children have environments where learning is occurring in a meaningful context, where they have choices, and where they are encouraged to follow their interests, learning takes place best.”
Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2003Three things at the heart of every project.
Project work is intentionally designed. Every session is shaped by careful documentation, thoughtful room design, curated materials, and a guide who knows when to step in — and when to step back. At its core, three qualities define it.
Project work begins with wonder — a provocation, a problem, a material — and trusts that genuine curiosity is the most powerful engine for deep learning. Research shows that divergent thinking begins to decline as early as age 8 when schooling emphasizes the single correct answer. We protect it intentionally.
Projects are inherently social. Learners negotiate, collaborate, teach each other, and build on each other’s ideas. In our mixed-age studios, an older learner mentoring a younger one isn’t a distraction from the project — it is the project. The relationships formed around shared making are the same ones that shape how our learners show up in the world.
When the goal is process rather than product, something shifts. Learners stop worrying about being wrong and start experimenting. They build confidence in their creative abilities, develop problem-solving resilience, and preserve the innovative thinking they’ll need to tackle real-world challenges where there is rarely just one right answer.
What it looks like.
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By age 15, that number is 12%. The culprit? An educational system designed around finding the single correct answer. Project work is how we protect the creative capacity children are born with — and make sure it survives childhood.
Children who are taught that learning is memorization haven’t learned how to learn.
When children are taught that there is one right answer, they become dependent on adults for their learning. They stop trusting their own thinking. They stop taking risks. They stop growing in the ways that matter most.
Project work is how we teach the opposite. It builds the confidence to try, the resilience to fail, and the curiosity to keep going — because those are the skills that transfer far beyond school.
Singer, Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 2006 · Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2003
One thread. Three stages.
Project work looks different at every age — but the core is the same. Curiosity. Collaboration. Creative risk-taking. The belief that the process matters as much as the product. It begins the moment a child joins Spark Studio and deepens every year after.
In Spark, project work is where young learners first discover the joy of building, making, and exploring. Open-ended provocations spark questions. Questions lead to discovery. Discovery builds the habits of mind that carry them forward.
In Discovery, projects grow in complexity and ambition. Learners set their own goals, work across longer timelines, and experience the satisfaction of seeing an idea through from start to finish. The process becomes the curriculum.
In Adventure, projects connect to the real world. Learners take on ambitious challenges, embrace meaningful failure, and develop the agency and resilience that define a TVS graduate. The aim is not a finished product — it’s a learner who knows how to learn.
Dr. Lauren Coyle
Project work at TVS wasn’t borrowed from a curriculum. It was designed from the ground up by someone who has spent her career at the intersection of psychology and learning.
Lauren holds a B.A. in Psychology from The College of William & Mary and a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from George Washington University. Her training included extensive coursework in child development and internships at two D.C.-area schools, followed by a clinical residency and full-time practice at a Fairfax community mental health center.
After stepping away to raise three young children, Lauren returned to the field with a new focus: combining her deep background in psychology with the principles of early childhood education. She spent five years as a lead teacher at a Reggio Emilia-inspired preschool before joining The Village School, where she now brings that rare combination of clinical insight and pedagogical expertise to the way we design and run project work.
The result is a learning experience that isn’t just engaging — it’s grounded in how children’s minds actually work.