2012 Phase I
EKWQ
Experience
In the summer camp introduction newsletter, the study topic was announced along with a plea for parents with expertise to share their knowledge with the children. In addition, during the weekly email delivery, parents were encouraged to have children bring in photos or other items from trips they had taken to ponds and/or streams. Some children shared stories about beavers, ducks and frogs they had seen with their families during group discussions.
During group meeting time, the teacher read the big book, Jump Frog Jump by Robert Kalin. Afterwards the children made a list of the living things in the book and other living things that may be at a pond or stream. The next week, a class group experience was implemented by walking to a small pond located near the school.
Knowledge
At the pond, dubbed "Green Bug Pond', children rotated within three small groups. One group sat on a blanket and sketched what they saw using clipboards and colored pencils. Another group went around with a digital camera and snapped images of interesting aspects of the pond. The third group used nets and a cup attached to an extension rod to scoop up samples from the water which included bugs, tadpoles, and duckweed.
Wondering
Over the next few days, children shared the drawings and photographs during group meeting. A bulletin board displaying the children's work was created. A classroom aquarium housed some of the bugs, tadpoles and water plants for the children to observe closer.
Children were asked what they already knew about ponds and streams and their ideas were recorded on a web. This way the teachers could assess any previous knowledge the group had and plan accordingly.
Questions
A list of questions was generated during this time. The list was posted on the main bulletin board for easy reference. The list was left open so that more questions could be added if they happened to come up.
- Why is the water dark?
- Why does the water have green on top?
- Why do sharks live in the pond?
- What are the yucky bugs we caught in the pond?
- What kind of butterflies and dragonflies live at the pond?
- What kind of fish live in the stream?
- What is a stream?
- What kind of rocks are at the pond?
- How does the water move?
- What kind of spiders live at the pond?
- What kind of colors and patterns do the snakes have that live at the pond?
- Do streams have beaches?
- How does water at the pond get so dirty?
- Where do alligators live?
When asked how can we find the answers to these questions, another list was generated including:
- Experts
- Scientists
- Books
- Movies
- Computers
- Smart Phones
- Field Trips
Some of these children had clearly been exposed to the Project Approach system before!
