The great mystery for me has been how to get into an inquiry with students. How do you get the students to buy in? How do you peak their interest? How do you hook them into the project? How do you introduce the ideas and get them on the path?
In Kath Murdoch’s book “The Power of Inquiry” this stage is known as “Tuning in.” It’s the time when you engage the students in the topic and provide provocations to get them thinking. You find out what students already know in this area and what misconceptions exist. You explore what questions they have. Activities might include visualizations, simulations, picture prompts, making predictions, reading stories, watching video clips, discussing art, sharing knowledge, or exploring artifacts. I observed a simulation using the picture book “Feathers and Fools” in which two flocks of birds start a war over their fears of each other. In a 100-minute block, we read the book twice to the students. Students were then sorted into two groups based on colour dots on their hand (given before the reading), and one student with a third colour. Half were the peacocks, the other half were the swans, and the solo student was the “foolish peacock” who started spreading the fearful rumours in the beginning. The students were given 30 minutes to prepare arguments in the trial of the foolish peacock. As I listened to the trial, I jotted some notes as possible links to issues arose. The students made comments that could be connect to resource mining rights, land border conflicts, rights to crop growth, refugees and relocation, a trigger event of a war, ownership of airspace, and historic wars (WWI, WWII, Vietnam and the cold war). What is notable about this is that no matter which way the teachers choose to take the class inquiry, the students have ready examples and understandings to use as a jumping off point. “The swan should never had flown over the peacock land.” “There is nothing defining the border between the two flocks.” “We can’t grow those types of reeds on our side.” “Why did you assume the reed in my beak was a weapon?” “Why didn’t you ask us to clarify the misunderstanding?” This simple picture book provided a rich simulation the students will be able to reach back to as they explore the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The richness of this time spent tuning in and provoking student thought proves invaluable in the PBL classroom. By the end of this process, student interest has been piqued and hopefully most have an idea of what area in which they would like to dig further. Provocations has become a cornerstone of the Kindergarten Program and I see the benefit of keeping this inquiry tool present as students grow older.
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Terri-AnnPersonal reflections on project-based learning. Archives
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