This post is #4 in a series. CLICK HERE to go to post #1
Welcome back to my blog series about Inquiry Based Learning. Last week I wrote about doing research with Primary students.
This week we’re going to focus on producing a final project. Inquiry based learning usually
ends up with the children producing something to showcase what they have learned. I decided to simplify the project as it is the last month of the school year. I provided a mini booklet for the kids to complete which could showcase their learning.
ends up with the children producing something to showcase what they have learned. I decided to simplify the project as it is the last month of the school year. I provided a mini booklet for the kids to complete which could showcase their learning.
First the children needed to write up a draft. I provided them with a template which allowed
them to write down the parts of a paragraph with 3 facts. Once the children completed their draft outline, I went through them with each child. We did this one-on-one to make sure that their draft was aligned to their inquiry question and that it made sense. I corrected their grammar and spelling and offered suggestions which would make more sense. Even after all
the work we have done on this process, some children simply did not understand what they were supposed to do. There were children who just copied down complex sentences from their internet notes. Of course, this is not what I was looking for.
them to write down the parts of a paragraph with 3 facts. Once the children completed their draft outline, I went through them with each child. We did this one-on-one to make sure that their draft was aligned to their inquiry question and that it made sense. I corrected their grammar and spelling and offered suggestions which would make more sense. Even after all
the work we have done on this process, some children simply did not understand what they were supposed to do. There were children who just copied down complex sentences from their internet notes. Of course, this is not what I was looking for.
With those 2 or 3 students who could not grasp this process, I asked them questions and together we wrote down their ideas in sentences which made sense and were not copied down from the internet. Because this was the first time we tried this process, I understood that some kids just didn’t “get it”. I believe that some children will need to go through this process many times and it could take a few years until they can complete an inquiry project by themselves. So, at this point in the process, I just wanted to make sure that they could showcase what they already knew and not get caught up in the process if they didn’t understand.
Next the children completed their good copy or final project. Each child wrote down their inquiry question. Then they copied the sentences from their paper pictured above. I then went through and corrected any more errors, and once their paragraph was done, they drew a picture on the final page that was related to their writing and wrote a caption (this is a picture of…).
And there you go. The final projects were put out for the other children to read. They loved looking at each other’s work and reading the paragraphs. Next week we will talk about the self-assessment part of this process.
If you are interested in doing project based learning, I have many products in my TPT store specifically designed for this. Click below to find out more.
CLICK HERE for project based learning and inquiry based learning resources.
Click on the photos below to go to the individual products.
