Most of our investigations in kindergarten arise out of students' interest and/or needs. However, I've always been curious to try an investigation that begins with a teacher-selected guiding question instead. I wanted a question that would lend itself to as much critical thinking as possible, and I also wanted one that would enable the kiddos to do the actual investigating themselves. Since we had already completed three interest-driven investigations so far this school year, January seemed like a perfect time to try something new.
Our investigation began with the question, "What are the most important places at our school?" Since one of my main goals this year is to get those little brains thinking deeply as much as possible, we brainstormed a list the first day and the following day I challenged the kindergartners to explain their reasoning behind each suggestion.
