Session Four: Exploring the Word 'Inquire'

Written by Lindsay:
After a lot of time and effort we were able to put all the pieces together for all 20 of our Think Tank Bins. We have been looking forward to having the students dive into the individual bins since we began this project and it was clear that our students were too.

Our 'skeleton' was also eager to get out of the bin and stretch his bones!!

On Thursday we had the students do a walk through of the bins and do a little exploration before beginning our session today (Friday). This really peaked their enthusiasm as they were introduced to bins with titles such as "Stop Motion Animation", "The Impossible Spiral" "Be an Architect" and "Why is Origami Square".

Here are the names of the bins the students will be working with.

This session began with our opening circle where students were engaged in structured partner talk discussion. Students were asked to tap into their background knowledge and share what they knew about the word 'inquire'. Students were also asked to think about the Habits of Mind that they thought they might be using in this session. The students were very excited to get started with their bins. For this session we decided that for each of our classes we would determine partnerships that students would be working in and the bins that they would be starting with. Our ultimate goal is for students to self select partnerships, small groups or to work on their own and also to self select their bins.

Once the students had grabbed their bins and begun exploring their contents we asked them to pause and write down a question that they were wondering about. They used their reflection journals to do this. After that, the kids were engaged for a solid hour of pure exploration and investigation of their bins.

Exploring, sorting and categorizing rocks and minerals.

Playing with stop-motion animation.

Discovering snap circuits.

Mr. Bones stretching his legs (femur, tibia and fibula, as the students discovered)

Drawing out the floor plan to their 'Dream House'

In the afternoon, my class returned to the Think Tank to take part in our Reflection Circle. Once again, the students were asked to engage in structured A/B partner talk around their experience in the Think Tank today. After some discussion, the students followed four writing prompts to respond to in their journals:
               -What did you do in Think Tank today
               -What did you learn in Think Tank today.
               -What does the work 'Inquire' mean to you
               -How did your thinking get stronger today.


Teacher's Reflection:
All in all, I would have to say that today's session was quite successful. It was clear that they pre-planning that we put in place was well worth it. We were unsure how the students would handle working with their own bins but once again, all the students were engaged, working hard and wiring well with others. There were a couple of structural changes to be made and fine tuning of bins but those are all easy fixes.
After looking at the students reflection journals and seeing the questions they were asking it became clear, like with most tasks in a classroom, their is a wide range of abilities. Some students were able to ask meaningful questions and others were asking basic questions such as 'how long, how much and how many'. It might be helpful to incorporate a 'questioning' component to regular classroom activities to help encourage students to develop deeper, more meaningful questions.
Also, during the reflection portion of the session many students struggled with writing down a higher-level reflection. The first two prompts were 'do-able' for almost all students. The other two writing prompts proved more challenging despite the pre-discssion, the reference to the 'Habits of Mind' and other scaffolds. We may need to re-think how we ask students to write down their reflections. Perhaps they need more of a template to follow.
Here is a sampling of some of the students' reflections:

Stay tuned for Joys' reflection next week!!

Session Three: The Adventure of a New Project!

Session Three: Nov.14/15, 2013 - Posted by Joy

This week, we started working in the Think Tank with our separate classes (Div One and Two).  It was fun working as a big group, but it was time to work our way into what the process will look like for the rest of the year.

We decided that everyone would "do" the same bin so we could guide the students through the process of opening the bin, checking out the contents, figuring out what is expected and then asking questions to guide the inquiry. Students were once again reminded of the overarching question guiding the year-long inquiry: "How will my "habits of mind" develop and change during the Think Tank lab this year?" 

They were reminded that they would be reflecting throughout today's session and at the end (formally in their reflection journal) about what Habits of Mind they noticed they were using during the lab time. 

The task card we placed in the bin said:
For this inquiry you will make a geodesic out of paper clips and straws.
Step One: What is your question(s)? What do you wonder?
Step Two: Follow the non-verbal instructions to make the geodesic dome out of paperclips and straws.


The supplies included:
1) pictures of geodesic domes
2) the non-verbal instruction sheet
3) straws cut in half
4) paperclips
5) Habits of Mind reference chart

 

After sharing the goals of the session and looking at the task in the inquiry bin, we went through the process of generating questions. Here you see a sample of some of the questions asked by the students before starting the project of making a geodesic dome using visual instructions (non verbal). I was struck by the energy in the room as they talked with their partners about what they were curious about and what they were wondering about the project. I noticed a few of them had already gone into the planning what to do. This makes me curious: do questions come out of planning for action? Do the questions come from trying to figure out what I, the teacher wants, or from genuine curiosity about the project? My sense was that the kids were pretty excited about the project and just wanted to get going. Planning and goal setting aside, they just wanted to "do it"!

 Here we are working with our partners to generate questions before diving into the project.

The work time was busy! The partnerships were incredibly engaged in the project and with each other. I interviewed the kids as they were working (using the Ipad to record video). I asked them about the strategies and Habits of Mind they were using. Here are some quotes from the kids:
“We used 'Imagine the Possibilities and Outcomes'. We had to think out of the box to figure it out”.
“We noticed there was a little pattern here. It helped us to know how many triangles would be in the geodesic dome. Now we have a sense of how big it’s gonna be...."

“We are making these long patterns. We are going to make several of these and join them together. In the end, we will have a dome.”

"We noticed that if we worked independently it would be easier than working together because sometimes we really disagreed and it doesn't work out. So we imagine the possibilities and outcomes together and we thought maybe (my partner) will make the top and I will make the bottom. We were just thinking that"

Most of the groups had to alter the the original "direction" they were taking. At the end, by consensus, we agreed that if you strayed from the non verbal instructions, you were bound to fail. They discovered this through actually failing and having to start again.

Here we have one of the two domes that were successfully completed. Students agreed it was a challenging task, and most groups experienced frustration at some point. Interestingly, when we finally called it quits (spending significantly more time than I had originally planned) the kids wanted to keep going. Two of the partnerships had "had enough" and were happy to quit, but the others found it hard to stop without finishing. In future labs, it will be possible to return to an inquiry, so students will be able to continue if they feel the need to persevere to finish.

It was interesting looking at the strategies they used to keep their attention on the task: several took me up on my offer to do burpees or jumping jacks in the room when they needed a brain break.  One student flopped on his chair periodically, got up and worked a bit, then flopped down again. Several students walked around to see what other groups were doing (after I suggested they do a :"gallery walk"). I was struck by the amount of students who were able to sustain their attention without taking breaks. I think the task may have been in the "just right" area of challenge and skill to keep them going.

At the end, the kids wrote reflections on: the strategies they used, what Habits of Mind were in use and suggestions they had for others trying the project. I noticed that several students listed 5 or more Habits of Mind with no explanation as to how they were using them. I am noting a range of skill at supporting assertions with evidence. We are working on this in other areas of the curriculum as well. Next week we will use these reflections to set criteria for future reflection writing.

 
Teaching the kids to write good reflections is essential to this inquiry because we are trying to measure progress and growth in thinking dispositions. The ability to communicate one's understanding of their own cognitive processes is essential to measuring any change or growth.

In this example, I love how she noticed that she used the Habit of Mind, Transfer Learning: "I went into my hippocampus and remembered in grade 3..". It was a previous learning experience that allowed her to communicate to her partner what might not work. Their dome was actually one of the two that was stable and did not collapse.

 

In this example, the student demonstrates an emerging understanding of her own  thinking dispositions during the activity. She successfully provided evidence that supported her assertions of what Habits of Mind she was using.

I am looking forward to watching our students' metacognitive skills develop this year! From the few Think Tank sessions we have already engaged in, I am convinced this is an excellent platform for students to inquire into themselves and become self-reflective learners.

 

 

Our next Think Tank session(s) are on November 29th. Stay tuned for a post from Lindsay! :)

Session Two: November 8, 2013

We gathered the two classes together one more time to work through the first task. We wanted to connect their growing understanding of Habits of Mind to an actual task. The goal of the session was: "What Habits of Mind are in use during the project?

Students worked in groups of four. They had a budget of 20.00 to purchase their supplies. They could only visit the store twice.

It was busy, chaotic and fun! The kids were highly engaged throughout the activity - especially some of our most vulnerable, disengaged students. Strategies varied, but everyone completed the task in the allotted time. Conflict within groups was minimal.

At the end, we did a quick whole group reflection. Students reported out that they were using a variety of Habits of Mind. They agreed that their awareness of the use of Habits of Mind because clear when engaged in a task. The Habits of Mind they reported using were: Understand Others, Be Adventurous and Open-Minded, Strive to Be Accurate and Precise, Persevere, Contribute Positively to the Group and Inspire Teamwork.

Moving forward:

Each class will be working separately for Session Three. We will introduce the Opening Circle, as outlined in the Knodt (2008) resource. The lesson is titled: "The Adventure of a New Project". Instead of moving into the individual bins, we are doing one more group project to solidify the routines and expectation in Think Tank. Our goal is to have students focus on asking an inquiry question. This needs to be done through modeling and guided practice, hence out reasoning for doing one more group activity (albeit in separate classes).

Stay tuned!

Session One November 1, 2013

We gathered both classes together in the "Think Tank Room" to introduce Think Tank and the thinking dispositions we will be focusing on this year. The session was guided by the question: "What are Habits of Mind?"We wanted to find out students' background knowledge and awareness of the 15 Habits of Mind. Students brainstormed and gathered ideas through structured partner talk and then travelled through the Concept Carousel, adding ideas, thoughts and images about the 15 Habits of Mind.

The kids were fairly engaged. There was varying understanding of what Habits of Mind are and whether or not they were using them. 

Next, we presented them with introductory assessment (a paragraph and a checklist) on their understanding of Habits of Mind and their use of Habits of Mind. 

What a fun first session! The kids (and the teachers) were eager to move forward. 

Hello! 
Who are we: Lindsay Swan and Joy Nugent 

Welcome to our Think Tank blog! We are two grade 4/5 teachers at James Bay Community School excited to share our journey of implementing the Think Tank inquiry lab process. We would like to acknowledge the amazing resource: nine thousand straws:teaching inquiry through open-inquiry learning (Knodt, 2008) which is our primary resource for this project.


We wish to capture our thinking on this blog as we engage in our year-long teacher inquiry project on  the development of our students' awareness of, and growth in, the "Habits of Mind" (as identified by Knodt, 2008).

Team:
Lindsay Swan
Joy Nugent
(Classroom teachers)

With support from:
Laura Dempsey (teacher librarian)
Petra Eggert school district learning mentor).

We decided to create a blog for three reasons:
1) share with colleagues this project we think is SO COOL
2) engage with technology
3) create a context for accountability (if people follow our blog, we will be consistent about recording our reflections)

What is Think Tank?
In the Think Tank lab, students go through an extended process of inquiry which strengthens their learning from content areas and develops certain thinking dispositions (identified as "habits of mind"). Through well-designed inquiry projects based on key academic content, children are guided and coached to engage their natural impulses to ask about and explore their world. With the inquiry projects setting the stage for the program, the focus is on building children's critical and creative thinking skills and dispositions.

21st century learners require more than just content-area knowledge. The Think Tank provides a platform for children to develop 21st century skills. Trilling and Fadel (2009) identified the following  thinking dispositions as essential for 21st century learners: critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration and creativity and innovation. The content sets the stage, but the focus in Think Tank is on these thinking dispositions, or habits of mind. Each Think Tank session begins with a focus lesson on a habit of mind. Students refer and reflect on their own development of these dispositions throughout the year. The goal is to transfer these thinking dispositions and skills beyond the work in the Think Tank to other domains and essentially develop lifelong habits. One of the stated missions of Think Tank is to "develop thinking skills and dispositions that can be applied to the success of any endeavour" (p. 3).

Think Tank is driven by student choice. With the instructional focus on thinking, children are poised to be part of the conversation and eagerly engage in Think Tank projects, as Knodt (2008) said: "young people appear instinctively geared to develop and put into practice what ,any adults also try to cultivate for themselves: finding and meeting challenges with competent, prepared and inspired minds" (p. 2). Think Tank personalized learning because students decide themselves what they want to work on during the lab time.

Students' inquiries in Think Tank are driven by their own driving questions. The teacher is the coach and the project is the medium for students to engage in in-depth inquiry into a big question or problem. Students are coached to question and inquire, with teachers asking: "what questions do you find yourself asking as you explore?" and "what are some other ideas you could pursue with this inquiry?"  In addition to coaching for inquiry, students are also coached for metacognition: "what habits of mind do you have in action?", and "how do you keep working when things get tough? What helps you persevere?" are all possible questions to ask the learner during the Think Tank lab time.

What are Habits of Mind?
There are 15 thinking dispositions that are the instructional focus in Think Tank. Children are coached to reflect on and make revisions or changes in their thinking as needed. Feedback is given to students through coaching questions and opportunities for self reflection.

The Habits of Mind are:
1) Be Adventurous and Open Minded
2) Wonder, Explore, Ask Questions
3) Contribute Positively to the Group and Inspire Teamwork
4) Imagine Possibilities and Outcomes
5) Set Goals and Make Plans
6) Think Independently
7) Use What You Know, TransferLearning
8) Step Back and Look at the Whole Picture
9) Strive To Be Accurate and Precise
10) Look Carefully
11) Listen Actively
12) Support Ideas With Reasons Why
13) Persevere
14) Communicate Clearly
15) Understand Others

Teacher Inquiry
Our Think Tank inquiry project is guided by the overarching question:
How will students' "habits of mind" develop and improve during the process of open-inquiry learning in the Think Tank lab?

The question is shared with students to direct their own inquiry:
How will my "habits of mind" develop and change during the Think Tank lab this year? 

This inquiry project affords the opportunity to investigate and learn about ourselves as educators. The following are our personal goals and questions within this inquiry:

Joy's Questions and Goals:
-What will the level of transfer of learning to other domains be? How will we measure that??
- How will we effectively guide the process of (students) asking questions within the inquiry?
- Goal: improve my ability to apply coaching and guiding questions to facilitate student inquiry (throughout the learning process, but specifically during learning)
- Goal: see growth in my own thinking dispositions
- Goal: enhance and develop my relationships with my students and colleagues
-HAVE FUN!!!

Lindsay's Questions and Goals:
Question: What will students' level of engagement be like throughout the Think Tank process?
Question: How will our most vulnerable students respond to the Think Tank process?
Question: How will students' 'metacognition' change throughout the process? Will the students become more reflective and self aware?
Goal: Increase my awareness of the inquiry learning process.
Goal: Increase student engagement.
Goal: Have fun while being engaged in an exciting project with students and colleges!



Using these questions as our umbrella we are poised to begin our inquiry!! We are both pretty jazzed up about this project, as we see the potential for huge growth in our students as well as in ourselves as educators! We hope you will follow us in our journey!