Here is an example of project guidelines for students to follow while conducting projects. An illustrating example for each step is in parentheses. Students will naturally engage several different intelligences by working through these guidelines.

1. State your goal. (I want to understand how optical illusions work.)
2. Put your goal in the form of a question. (What are optical illusions and how do they fool our eyes?)
3. List at least three sources of information you will use. (Library books, eye doctors, prints of M.C. Escher’s work, the art teacher)
4. Describe the steps you will use to achieve your goal. (Find and read books on optical illusions, look up optical illusions in the encyclopedia, look at Escher’s work)
5. List at least five main concepts or ideas you want to research. (What are optical illusions? How is the human eye tricked?)
6. List at least three methods you will use to present your project. (Construct a model of how the human eye works. Hand out a sheet of optical illusions for class members to keep. Have the class try to make some.)
7. Organize the project into a timeline. (Week 1: Read sources of information. Week 2: Look at a variety of optical illusions. Make a diagram of the eye.)
8. Decide how you will evaluate your project. (Practice in front of an adult and get his or her feedback. Practice in front of two friends. Fill out a self-evaluation form. Read the teacher’s evaluation form.