I love this video of kindergarten students in Alabama. The curriculum is project based, focusing on student interests and is driven by their curiosity in a topic. Check it out below.
http://www.edutopia.org/kindergarten-project-based-learning-video
This video inspires me to take on a more project based approach with my students. Seeing the level of engagement that the students in the video display is unreal, (in a good way!) I love that their questions and curiosity really drives the projects that they are working on and that each child seems to take such ownership of their contributions. I currently reading Collaboration and Comprehension: Inquiry Circles in Action by Harvey Daniels and Stephanie Harvey, all about different kinds of inquiry based learning and it's really intrigue me. Earlier this year, my class worked on "outer space inquiries," where they got to choose a topic, develop guiding questions, research those questions, and put together a poster using Publisher to present their findings. While this project took a LONG time with my second graders, they really enjoyed themselves and showed a great deal of ownership with their final presentations. My wish would be that there would be more time in the day (for many reasons!) and not so much "packaged" curriculum. I'm planning an animal centered inquiry for my students in May when we've finished our reading curriculum requirements and have more time! Yea!
I'm glad to hear that you are so inspired by the video. I have become motivate to try my first "project" in my class this week. As a math teacher, projects are not the norm at all for me. It has taken a lot of planning and preparation for me to think about taking on this small scale project. I can't imagine being able to do this on a regular basis. It has gone fairly well so far. We will wrap up tomorrow I hope. good luck with your project in May!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of project based learning. I have tried this on numerous occassions in my own classroom, however it doesn't seem to work as I intended. My kids are lazy when it comes to doing projects, they want to do the least possible to achieve the best grade possible. Even after encouraging them to go above and beyond they just don't want to do it. So I guess even after reading your reflection, I am still left wondering how to get children motivated to want to put in the extra work and ask those investigative questions.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to hear a teacher that is motivated and uses what we are reseaching in this class to impact their own classroom. When I did teach, I used project based learning. Individual and group. I hated to lecture and the students get glassed eyes. Project based curriculum lendsitself well to earth science classes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amanda. Sometimes things don't work out the way you plan them. (But that doesn't mean we should give up!) I've never taught in a school setting, but I was a Sunday School teacher at my church for a few years. I taught the 3-6 year old group. One quarter, we did lessons on creation. During this time, we worked on "creating the earth" using paper mache. This did not go over too well because the kids liked to play in the glue, dripping it everywhere and soaking the paper, the table, and themselves with it. Also, they kept applying the paper strips to the same area so some of the globes were lopsided. Then when they finished painting, the globes were just a lopsided ball with blue/green paint. But the kids did try but it turns out that this project wasn't really a good fit for the age group. I was anxious to try because I thought it was a neat idea. But the kids did learn through this trial and error project attempt. :) If things don't work, revise. Project-based learning is a great way to help kids learn. :)
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