From Wandering to Wondering
Activating Research Skills
Why Wonder?
We quickly realized that when we get our students wondering about something that appeals to them, they are immediately more excited about the project. They are invested in the outcome and knowing the answer! When students hear the word "research" they equate it with "boring" and "hard work", but "wondering" engages the imagination and makes a personal research experience.
Research is a skill set that our students need to be productive, independent learners. WONDERing is a way to scaffold the learning process and make it unique for each student.
Wonder Wall
Our Process
With our lower grade levels, the first time we wonder, we usually wonder about a similar topic. This allows us to really scaffold the "think aloud" process and keep students similarly focused. While everyone might have a different wonder, it's all focused around the same topic. (See our pumpkin example below!) This helps when pulling resources and guiding the research!
Every research lesson starts with this Wonder introduction. It usually lasts 30-45 minutes and gets the students hooked. We return for 2-3 more days (usually 30-45 minutes each) to allow them to research their wonders using websites and books. Students use our Super3/Big6 research outlines to find information. As part of the research process we explain that sometimes we do not immediately find the answers we are looking for. Sometimes researching means collecting background information and synthesizing all the facts to really answer the question. Additionally, some students do not really answer their specific wonder question, and that is perfectly OK too!
- Super 3 Research Outline
- Note Taking Guide (Version 1) - room for 3 sources
- Note Taking Guide (Version 2) - room for 4 sources
After 2-3 days of research, students begin working on a culminating project. Inspired by Wonderopolis and their videos, we have students write a script, find a picture and record their script in the app Garageband, SonicPics or 30Hands.
The Wonder research process does not have to be done in consecutive days. Because each student is doing their own project it can be a once or twice weekly occurrence as a special time for students to research and explore.
The last step of any project, and one we always include, is student sharing; or as we like to call it, a "Viewing Party"! It is important for students to feel their work is authentic by being shared with their peers; and students love learning from each other! This often sparks more questions and Wonders in other students.
To add accountability to the viewing, we often have students do reviews of their peers by giving them star ratings, and writing one fact they learned and one constructive comment to improve the project.
Resources
Also, it is important to steer students to appropriate websites to use for research. Our students know that Google is not the place to go! We explain that we want our students to be able to spend their time finding specific facts for their project; not be frustrated by finding websites that do not really answer their question or are too difficult to read. Vetting resources beforehand for students can be a time consuming process, but is essential to a smooth research process. Some resources we direct our students to are:
Final Products
Extension Activities
Questions? Comments? Contact us!
Media Coordinator
renee.cunningham@rss.k12.nc.us
@MrsPageTurner
Ann Crilley
Technology Facilitator
@agcrilley