Beginning the Investigations

[Nancy Hultquist]

At the beginning of the school year, what steps do you take to get students thinking about the exhibition?

[Leigh Newton]

You've probably started the Exhbition by now, just like me, but I'm going to have a shot at answering your question anyway.

It's difficult to talk about the content of the Exhibition early in the year as there is a lot of growth required beforeit comes around. In our two class grade 5 Exhibition group we just talk about it as the culminating unit of the students' primary years of education, leading them into middle school. They know the expectations are significant. They know the topic, the expectations and they want to perform well in front of the school community that come together to see what they have done.

I wonder what others do?

[David Barrett]

Hi,
One of the thigs I have noticed in years past is that "global issues" are often too "global" for kids who are in junior/primary school.... I mean who does not know a bit about global warming etc etc, but as far as action is concerned, what can the kids really do? And, more importantly, is it really an issue for them. (Or is just an issue for adults who would like it to be an issue for 10-12 year olds?). So, this year we have decided to start by asking the kids "what really worries you?" In other words what are the issues primary age kids think about on a daily basis. (If a student is passionate about something they are more likely to take a real interest in it and try to do something about it) There are quite a few issues... some obvious, and some not so obvious to us adults. There was of course bullying, but they also came up with gossip, social networks, body image, sibling rivalry, homework, media influence. These are personal issues for the kids but we soon realised that they are similar issues for kids all over the world... hence global as well. And we discussed if they thought they could really do something in their own life to affect these influences. So, next step is for the kids to figure out lines of inquiry etc. Should be interesting.

[Leigh Newton]

I like the approach. Presumably there is some manipulation to get the UI fitting the Program of Inquiry, but I like the extra step towards the student initiated inquiry. I relief taught at a South Australian state school (non-PYP) a while back where they dedicated their afternoons to inquiry. The students were involved in mostly individual inquiries. They followed their passion. The only teacher requirement on this was that there had to be balance on various topics/themes throughout the year. One gr5 girl was studying the international monetary exchange system and a gr 5 boy was studying a cartoon series; characters, authors and stories. Passion and energy lies in different places and I like how the individual U.I. let these children follow their own passion.

Say some more about fitting the students' topics into the POI. Are they going to be in groups?

[Cristina Milos]

We don't and I am certainly interested in their teachers' replies to this question.
My personal assessment is that kids would feel too anxious or a little overwhelemed by the importance of this culminating event in the PYP to be reminded regularly about it (prior to the process and the event themselves).

[Nancy Hultquist]

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. I greatly appreciate them! It is good to know that others are waiting to begin.

We did end up doing what David suggested and got the kids to think about problems that they are worried about. They ended up with some very "global" topics to choose from even with this initiation, but the topics came from inside of them.

I see now that we needed to be more "specific" about the organization of the units with students so that when they get to the Exhibition, they are familiar with the structure of the inquiry units. To add to my questions, are there things you do to bring the rest of the school into the exhibition inquiry?

Thanks!
Nancy

[Leigh Newton]

"are there things you do to bring the rest of the school into the exhibition inquiry?"

You raise an excellent point. The Exhibition should not be left to the teachers of the Exhibition grade. The unit is the culmination of their primary years, and so there should be input on a broader basis than teachers and mentors. We have our Exhibition this week and have not enjoyed the pressure of the last few weeks, especially with this group of students who aren't as organised as they could be, but thanks from advice from another experienced Exhibition teacher my feedback this year will be:

* in the penultimate week the specialist teachers forego their other year levels and spend their time with the Exhibition students assisting them in preparation for display materials. The last week is given over to students fine-tuning and rehearsing their speeches, class music, powerpoints.
* Principal and deputy to spend significant time in class in the last few weeks.
* Mentors to spend time in the classroom with their groups towards the end to assist in the physical process of putting the displays together. They already assist in planning, so following through into the presentation would also be valuable.

I'm interested in other ideas you may have.

[Nancy Hultquist]

Thanks for these ideas and the reflective feedback from this year. This is my first go at Exhibition, and it seemed that the students took over most of the planning and development of displays, websites, action elements. I am a strong believer in student-led inquiry, so perhaps I depended too much on the students to "lead" the inquiry. We developed an Exhibition Booklet to help give order and organization to evaluation and note-taking. This was a huge help. I am wondering if perhaps we should have encouraged more involvement on the part of the adult community. Is the final goal student-led inquiry? Or do we really want the combination of adults and students? Each fifth grade teacher was highly involved in overseeing the groups, but I am wondering if perhaps more community adult involvement would have produced a deeper level of learning. Your thoughts?

[Kerry McCaffery]

We met with the students on day one of the year as a grade (3 classes) to discuss which organising theme the students would like to investigate later this year. They narrowed it down to two - Sharing the Planet and How the World Works. The students brainstormed a large list of areas of interest and then came back a couple of weeks later when they had had time to think more deeply about their preferences. We then narrowed it down to Sharing the Planet and then the students wrote the central idea for the unit - we were impressed with them! Later in the term we'll come together again to continue the process.