Why Investigations?

So much of teaching (at least in my experience in independent school classrooms) is about making hard decisions. There are countless things we could learn/do each day and an increasingly long list of innovative (or even more traditional) ways of teaching them. In order to stay on track I find myself constantly asking - What do my students really need, and given what I know about them (and the world in which they live) what is the very BEST use of their time at school?

Investigations grew out of those questions. How can I combine important elements of my favorite teaching and learning styles (think Project Approach, Reggio inspired learning, Makerspace and the design cycle, Inquiry Learning, etc.) in a way that makes sense for my students, within our school's current structure? That's how Investigations was born. The Investigations process takes into account what both research and experience have taught me about how young children learn best.

Investigations is not the only type of learning in my classroom, but it's definitely one of my favorites because it represents learning in its most organic and meaningful form.  Topics are interdisciplinary and are always different because they grow out of the interests, experiences, and needs of each current group of students.  Not only is growing topics out of students’ interests an ideal way for young children to learn, but nothing beats getting to learn about new topics each year right along with my curious kiddos.

There is no single format or path that an Investigation follows, and the process has certainly evolved (and will continue to evolve) over the years. And for everything that I love about Investigations, there is undoubtedly something I question or am hoping to improve as well.

However, there IS a general flow that weaves each learning journey together - an interest develops among the kindergartners, we begin noticing and wondering about the topic, we find ways to discover the answers to our wonders, we play and sing and paint and make things along the way because that’s how learning comes to life for little people, and we reflect on and share our learning with the ultimate goal of using what we have learned to help make our community a better place.  Each learning journey is unique and affords us different types of experiences along they way.

Lately I've found myself wondering if I should change the process so we investigate more topics in less depth. And while I see the pros and cons to each inquiry style, at the end of the day (at least for now) I can't imagine doing it differently. There's just something magical about giving children the opportunity to go deep and become real "experts" on a topic, to build connection upon connection in their little brains as they investigate a single topic across weeks, and to continue learning about something that feels truly joyful and engaging with as few adult-imposed time limits as possible.

And since content is never the point, there's no hurry to move on. It's never about the content anyway. Ants, ramps, crayons, rainbows, games, castles, worms - anything can be a worthy investigation topic. What really matter are the process and skills developed along the way -

Curiosity. Wonder. Joy. Making our thinking visible. Perseverance. Asking big questions. Building community. Learning to learn. Becoming an expert. Sharing our learning. Creativity. Collaboration.

And so much more...


Now that's the true magic of kindergarten Investigations!