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PKP . . . Essential Questions, Passion Board, and Proposals

3/31/2018

7 Comments

 
We’re moving right along with our Passionate Kids Project. For the past couple of weeks, we’ve developed our essential questions, displayed them on our Passion Board, worked on our inquiry proposal, and started gathering evidence.

Developing the essential questions was quite a process. Once students were able to pinpoint their passions, I wanted them to connected it with society. Our class overarching essential question is “What ignites your passion and how can your passion have a positive impact on society?”. My goal is for students to take their passion to a deeper level, connect it with society, and develop empathy.

To begin, I used a handout created by my colleague, Susie Whipple. She gathered information from Trevor MacKenzie’s book “Dive into Inquiry.” (Handout here.)

Trevor says, “Essential questions are not answered in a quick, simple Google search. They are not answered in a single lesson or in a discussion with a friend. They do not have a single answer and, in fact, our understanding of the essential question may change over time.”

This quote led to a discussion on the need for an open-ended questions that require multiple sources to answer. I shared my experience as a graduate student. When we draft our master’s thesis, many of us have to revise our focus once we start looking for information. For others, the question may be too direct and easy to answer. At this point, layers of depth and complexity must be added. As adults, we understand that this is part of the process. Our young learners are just starting out with inquiry. All these steps need to be discussed.  

Students wrote a possible essential question on a note-card. They held onto it for a couple of days to ponder. We came back to the questions during one-on-one conferencing. I met with each student individually and we confirmed or modified their question. After discussion, most questions remained very similar to the original question. Some students needed probing to take the questions deeper. Most students were able to make a connection to society.

For example, two student like dogs. Their connection to society is K-9 dogs. Several students are interested in sports. Their connection to society is health benefits of sports. Another student is interested in Greek mythology. Her connection to society are the influences of mythology on modern products. Another student is interested in science experiments. His connection to society is how inventions that are harmful can be made safe. Take a look at our questions here.
  • What is the cycle of a K-9 dog including training, service, and retirement?
  • How are K9 dogs trained to detect drugs, weapons, or people?
  • What are the health benefits of playing soccer and how can players maximize their potential?
  • If Greek mythology and culture didn’t exist, what items would we not have today?
  • What are the details of harmful inventions and what can we do to be safer around them?  
Once students developed their essential questions, they created a card to be displayed on our Passion Board. The board is a living piece that students are adding to. Students are encouraged to bring in artifacts that relate to their question. We are having so much fun with this! It’s like an upper grade version of “Show and Tell.” When students share an artifact, they first tell us their essential question, share their item and how it connects with their question, then we have a QandA session.
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I’ll share a few of their stories.

One students’ question is, “How can the bond between animals and humans be beneficial?” This student has been raising pigs in 4H for several years. It is a passion that the whole family shares. She’s interested in the relationship between animals and their owners. Through her personal experience raising animals, and research that she is finding, she is able to tie academic research into her passion. At our county fair, she earned Grand Champion for her market swine. She brought in her ribbon as her artifact along with an iMovie she created during her fair experience.

Another students’ essential question is “How are people harming beaches including the physical beach and animals along the shoreline? What actions can be taken to restore our beaches?” This student created a sorting box. She included items that are natural to beaches and items that are harmful to beaches. She plans on having students sort items when she presents her research at our student-led edcamp.

Still another question is “How did holidays originate and how do people celebrate them today?” This student has been bringing in a variety of artifacts relating to holidays. We had to extend our board to include a desk for her artifacts. Her enthusiasm for holidays is contagious. Along with her research, she plans to create a Google form for fellow students to complete about their favorite and least favorite holidays.
We’re following Trevor’s Inquiry Process. (Map here.) Following the process, we came upon the proposal. I loved the graphic so much that I created a digital version for students to complete. I created two templates, one for educators following #DiveIntoInquiry and another for educators that are conducting PKP in my school district. There are a few word changes but the core content is the same. Feel free to #FileMakeACopy to make the documents your own and modify as needed. Click here for the #DiveIntoInquiry template and here for the PKP template.
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I’m taking the inquiry process very slow. Since this is our first experience with free inquiry, I’m more concerned about the process than the final product. The components that students have completed in their proposal are the essential question, links to their online resources, their personal goals, and how they will keep track of their learning evidence. (My next post will be about their learning evidence.) I have an analog check-off sheet where I’m keeping track of student progress. Once a section has been completed and reviewed by me, students insert a checkmark in the box to the left. Surprisingly, this has been a motivation for students. Here is a sample of a student proposal.  

Next on our PKP journey is to continue to gather evidence, answer essential questions in a multi-paragraph essay, create a digital piece, and conduct a 20 minute session at our student-led edcamp. My next post will focus on gathering evidence, our curiosity journals, and our diji journals we’re using for reflection.

Ooooh, if you haven’t ordered your copy of #InquiryMindset, be sure to check it ordered. It’s lovely!!! Trevor and Rebecca created the perfect companion book to #DiveIntoInquiry.
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#MuchLove
​Marilyn


7 Comments
Rhiannon
3/31/2018 03:06:20 pm

Hi Mrs. Mc. Alister. Hopefully I haven't missed out on a lot of things and I am excited to come back and start working again in class for pkp.

Reply
Mai
3/31/2018 03:06:54 pm

Hi Mrs. McAlister I like how you explained and showed pictures of the passion board and how you shared some essential questions. Good job@

Reply
Jannah
3/31/2018 03:26:50 pm

Hey Mrs. McAlister.......Im adoring the fact that you included our essential questions and the inquiry proposal. I also admire that you included our progress. Along with next week's post which would be gathering evidence, and using our journals for reflections. Therefore, Im excited for our next journey.

Reply
Danica
3/31/2018 03:33:54 pm

I really love the passion board. The wall displays all of our passions and what we can show to go with them. #PassionBoard

Reply
Samantha
4/1/2018 06:53:30 am

Hi Mrs McAlister ,I really liked how you presented some of the essential questions and how you explain that we were following Trevor’s inquiry process.I am very excited to began in answer my question! Have a great spring vacation

Reply
Sierra
4/1/2018 09:09:12 am

Hi Mrs. McAlister. I really liked how you took pictures of the PKP passion board and I am so excited to be doing my PKP. #HappyAprilFoolsDay. Have a nice spring break.

Reply
Jennifer
4/1/2018 07:35:23 pm

I really like the fact that you included the examples of kids to show what we are doing. I also like that you included pictures.

Reply



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    Welcome to my blog.  I'm an 80's girl embracing being a 21st century tech-girl with the help of my amazing sixth graders.  Join us as we journey through sixth grade.

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