Inquiry Begins With a Spark of Wonder...
Below are some examples of Inquiry projects I have done with my students. The beauty of inquiry is that once the initial planning is done, the path is led by the students. I use a Backward Design Template to plan for an inquiry project and I always design the rubric with my students.
Pennies For Clean Water
With the Canadian penny phased out in 2012, my Grade One students raised nearly 50,000 pennies for developing countries to have clean drinking water. How did this come to fruition? Stemming from a curiosity about a world different from theirs, and the world at their fingertips, an inquiry about Water began. Students researched all about water, from what is usable water to water on earth. They questioned how water can be cleaned, hot we can help provide clean drinking water to people who need it, illnesses that occur with unclean drinking water, and much more. With the use of many technologies from iPad's, online videos, Smart Table activities, video conferencing, and much more, my Grade Ones learned about water through the lens of 21st century teaching and learning. |
Library to Learning Commons
Benefits of a Learning Commons:
-Promotes inquiry, collaboration, co-creation and sharing of new knowledge -Students and staff can access a range of digital and non-digital resources in one convenient location (the "heart" of the school) -It is an environment that is student-centred, not library-centred -It is a flexible space - Provides opportunities for learning by doing |
The transformation of a library to a learning commons is part of re-imagining education today. It's all about how kids learn and re-designing our space to foster a more personalized learning approach.
I have been a part of two transformations: one was a brand new school creating a learning commons space, and the other was a shift from a traditional library to a learning commons. During the year of transforming the library to a learning commons, a Learning Commons Student Group was created. This group represented the larger student body and was a part of the entire process of this change. Some of the work that this group did included: -Understanding what a Learning Commons is -Changing the library to look like a “Learning Commons” -Working on a presentation which they took back to classrooms to help others understand this change -Participating in a Learning Commons survey -Getting feedback from classes about different lunch hour activities they would like to see occur |
A Window To My Past, Present & Future
This was an inquiry project for the Grade One Social Studies topic: Moving Forward with the Past. Throughout this project, students:
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A Digital Inquiry: Moving Forward With The Past
During this year, the One/Two team took on a digital inquiry project for this Social Studies topic. The students used Smart Notebook to add images, sketches and audio clips as a way to document what they were finding out about their past. A chest was set-up on their first Notebook page and within that chest held artifacts of photographs, an interview with a grandparent, a special family tradition story, a charcoal sketch of their family, and an audio clip of them sharing a old story from their past. Parents were invited to the class and students shared their "chest" with them. |
Buildings From Around The World
Building Things Rubric - The students were a part of creating this rubric and it was used to assess their learning throughout this inquiry |
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The Grade One Science Topic: Building Things, took form of an inquiry project that spanned over a few months. Students learned about Buildings from Around the World through personal questions and wonders about various buildings. A personal search began and answers were found using resources such as books, Internet, and contacting experts. The end result: an amazing showcase of the exceptional buildings students built accompanied by multiple ways students documented their process and learning.
Sierpinski's Triangle
The Grade One and Two classes at Coventry Hills School worked on a collaborative project to see how many equilateral triangles they could build to keep their triangle growing and growing!