Individual Nature Investigations

As our bee investigation was wrapping up, the kindergarteners began bombarding me with questions and suggestions about what we would investigate next.  The more they questioned and suggested, the more of a sense I got that they were ready to branch out and investigate on their own.  I have never done individual investigations and was concerned about the time constraints (only 2 1/2 weeks left of the school year!), but nevertheless I decided to give it a go.  Recently I had listened to several podcasts about Genius Hour and was inspired me to see what this type of individualized learning might look and feel like in a kindergarten classroom. I wondered what I might sacrifice from the learning and discovery process by letting kids investigate on their own rather than collectively, and on the flipside I wondered what my students and I might gain from the experience.  I often think of our investigations as a process of learning and discovering through projects and then ending with a final project that helps us reflect or make a difference in our own little corner of the world.  This experience, however, would be markedly different.  I wondered...

• Would there be a collective energy and excitement in the room even though our topics were all different?
• Would the kids care about their topic for more than a few days, or would they start to become more engaged in classmates' topics?
• Would they learn as much about their topic without doing little projects to make their learning come alive along the way?  And, would that matter?
• Would this type of learning process feel as joyful as our typical investigation process?
• Our investigation project ideas naturally emerge as we explore and wonder together, so how would project ideas emerge when kids are learning on their own?

Clearly this individual investigation process was going to be as much of a learning experience for the kiddos as it would be for me!!

I had noticed many of their recent investigation suggestions stemmed from things (other than bees) they had been noticing outside (isn't spring such a perfect time for little people to wonder about nature!), and I also had a hunch that making sure their topics could be seen and touched would make for deeper learning...so we settled on the broad topic of nature around our school.  Under that umbrella, the kiddos were free to investigate whatever their little hearts and minds desired.

We headed outside to notice, explore, wonder, and of course PLAY!

Together we made a master list of all the things we had noticed outside, and then the kiddos narrowed their interests down to three and then finally to the one topic they were most curious about. 

They settled on everything from butterflies to ants to birds to rocks to spiders and more.  We headed back outside with clipboards and sheets for recording our observations.

Luckily we saw most of their topics on our nature walk so they could observe in real time.

Early on in our investigations one of the first things we typically do is look closely at pictures, notice, and sketch what we see...so we started off by doing the same thing here. I chose the type of paper, but each child chose whichever additional supplies they thought would work best.  The level of detail they have learned to include in their drawings blows me away!

We hung them up as a visual reminder of each of our topics.

We also typically begin investigations by activating our schema and figuring out what we already know, so we did the same thing with our own topics.

Then we were ready to begin wondering.

Next it was time to pass out the books.  The kindergarteners were ecstatic as usual to receive and look through their books!  By now they are experts at looking closely at photos (and words), thinking about what the pictures or words teach them, and then writing one reminder word on a sticky note to mark the page.  This simple process seems to hit the sweet spot of making sure the kiddos are aware of their learning yet manages to keep the research process joyful.  My favorite part of days like this is watching the kids excitedly bop around the room showing each other (and me) all the amazing and exciting things they are seeing.  They "ooh" and "ahh" and run to share with friends and come up with more and more wonders as they turn each page.

The next morning I asked the kiddos to begin a web and record two favorite things they learned about their topic yesterday.  I was impressed by how easily they recalled their learning and by how many kids asked if they could please record more than two things. For several of our investigations this year we have gathered our learning on a web, so I had a hunch this might be a familiar and useful tool for helping each child keep track of his/her learning. However, this was the only time I required kids to use the web because I wanted to be careful not to suck the joy out of the investigating process by turning it into too much of a required writing activity.

They stored their books and sticky notes in bins set up around the classroom for easy access, and they continued to learn more and more about their topics over the next few days.

We headed outside with our Ipads in hopes of spotting our investigation topics again and capturing pictures for later reflection.  In the process we gained a new appreciation for the talent of nature photographers.  Getting decent pictures of moving creatures turned out to be a lot harder than we'd imagined!

In an effort to make our topics as hands on as possible, we also brought in as many things from outside to explore as we could.  Someone brought in a butterfuly wing along with some butterflies in the chrysalis phase, we found a worm to bring inside for a few days, and we even managed to catch a lizard from the playground.

This class is a big fan Magic School Bus and Wild Kratts videos, so I was excited to discover that there was a relevant video for for almost every child to watch.  Luckily some kids were investigating the same topic, so that made the Ipad distribution process go a little more smoothly.  The videos are always full of information, so each kiddo recorded and illustrated just one favorite thing they had learned. 

During the course of several of our investigations this year we learned about lifecycles and parts of something (diagrams), so I invited anyone who might be interested to find out similar information about their own topic.  I was impressed by how many of the kiddos took me up on this invitation.

The next day I introduced them to the Pebble Go app and modeled how to read/listen and record just a few words on their web (if they wanted).  I have never seen kindergarteners so thoughtfully and skillfully write what they were learning rather than just copy words straight from the Ipad!  I was also amazed by how eagerly they kept adding more and more information to their webs.  

Many kids requested to keep using their Ipads to learn even more, so one by one I pulled up child friendly videos about their topics. They came back for more and more AND more, and with each new video they happily added new information to their webs.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine kindergarteners would write this much on their webs with such enthusiasm and joy! 

They were SO proud of everything they had learned and loved both formally and informally sharing their new knowledge with me and with each other.

Despite their continued enthusiasm for wondering and researching, I knew it would be important to add a hands-on creative task to enable their developing knowledge to come to life.  So, I challenged each kiddo to use whatever materials in the classroom they wanted to create a 3-d replica of their topic.  As usual, they made a plan, gathered supplies, got to work designing and improving, and then happily shared their creations with each other. Many kiddos couldn't wait to play with their creations. Our block area was filled with ants and worms and spiders during choice time that afternoon :)

Several kiddos kept asking for a chance to make a more permanent home for their creature, so our final project idea was born. Reflecting on everything they had learned about their topic, they figured out what their "habitat" should look like and what it would need to include in order to be realistic.  This group of kiddos is ALWAYS up for a building challenge (the bigger the better!) and dove into the project head first. Since we didn't have any long Fab Lab days to tackle this project, we spread our work out across several smaller sessions over several days.  This multi-day process was such a great reminder for me of what high quality work they do when they have a chance to revisit and improve upon their projects for several consecutive days. They take time to solicit quality feedback from each other, and they come into the classroom day after day with ideas for making their projects even better than they were just the day before.  

Check out these details!! 

Our projects neared completion around the same time we were planning a final play date with our fourth grade buddies, so I decided to combine the two events in order to give the kindergarteners a meaningful audience to share their work. They were SOO excited about the idea of becoming a teacher for their older buddy!

We set up our projects along with our webs and some favorite books,..

and then we shared...

As our investigation process neared an end I emphasized to the kiddos how exciting it is because now they know how to investigate anything they want to learn about on their own.  What an empowering realization for a six year old!!

So, here are my big takeaways from the experience...

Yes, the process was joyful.  Yes, there was a collective excitement and enthusiasm in the room throughout the two weeks. The kindergarteners had spent two full weeks reading, drawing, writing, observing, questioning, thinking critically, designing, and making, all about topics they were interested in...what could be better than that!  However, I'm fairly certain that the consolidated nature of this process is partly what kept it so exciting and prevented the kindergarteners' interest from waning.  Had this individual investigation process been stretched across many more weeks I don't know that I would have seen the same level of focus, engagement, and quality results from such little kiddos. 

Moving forward, I'm almost certain my ultimate goal will be to merge the two investigation processes together.  I will continue to grow whole-group investigations out of my current class' particular interests and needs, as I do believe there is great value in the collective and organic discovery process that unfolds as we investigate together.  However, I also know that I can do a better job of letting individual students or small groups take more control and responsibility for investigating (wondering, learning, creating, and teaching us) certain facets of our topic along the way. After all, there is also immense value in letting kids take control of their own learning, and now I know for sure kindergarteners really can go deep into subjects on their own.  

Can't wait to dive into next year!