Inquiry: Tuning In

Fair Trade: The Banana Mystery: Why are bananas cheaper than apples? 

Our Inquiry Cycle Model 

The Inquiry Process is not a linear process

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Tuning in Session 1: Bananas Don't Grow on Trees

The Research

Students Googled the prices between apples and bananas. 

We recorded down a bunch of costs from various locations and looked at the most expensive versus the cheapest. 

Reasoning

Students reasons for the difference in price between apples and bananas

- Quality of the product

- Shelf life

- Cost and profit

- One might be harder to grow

- More demand (popularity)

- Location the fruit grows - cultural or religious beliefs and values

- Economy 

- Exchange rate

- Brands and types 

Price Points

Students generated a bunch of reasons for the differences in prices for bananas between local stores. 

- Countdown is trying to make more money

- Pak N Save wants more customers by lowering their prices

- Competition between stores

- Shipping costs for the bananas between each store may vary

- The place they are importing from might change and then all the costs change

- Different supplies = different costs

- Storage options (Shelf life) - might be stored in a cooler or warmer place

- Brands and types change the price

- Pak N Save might have had more in stock and therefore could make theirs cheaper

The Mystery of why Bananas are cheaper than apples?

Students in their table groups then worked through the clues they were given. 

The organised them into 3 categories

1. Important Clue

2. Clue

3. Non Relevant 

Once each table group had discussed and drawn conclusions we talked about the importance of each piece of information. We used the clues to draw conclusions about why bananas were cheaper than apples. 

The Banana Split Game

Each group of students was given a role and had to argue/negotiate for their wage. 

The students really enjoyed being able to argue and negotiate what they felt their role was worth. 
It took a total of 5 rounds of negotiations to get each group to total 30 cents per each banana.

Round 1: Negotiate within their team
Round 2: Move around the room and try and convince other teams to lower their prices
Round 3: Negotiate again with only their own teams
Round 4: 1 person from each group presented to the class why they felt they were worth what they were asking for. Class debated on if they felt the demands were fair.
Round 5: Negotiate in teams once again (This round took the longest as we were 4 cents over and no team wanted to budge)

After all the negotiations I shared with the class what the actual prices each worker in the chain got per banana.

This prompted a lot of discussion. We used the discussion questions as prompts to steer our discussions in the right direction. Students shared a lot of their own experiences or stories their parents had shared about similar situations.

Overall majority of the class felt like the price of bananas should be raised to help support all those in the chain to meet their basic needs. 

Term 1 Inquiry: What is the 8th Wonder of the World?

In term one our focus is 'Wonders of the World'

I presented the students with a scenario:

Our first lesson was looking at a range of natural, man made, ancient and technological wonders and what about them made them wonders.

Students came up with the following questions to help determine what makes a wonder?

We then brainstormed a range of other questions that had:

Student's then brainstormed all the places, buildings and technologies they believed could be a wonder. Using this brainstorm they narrowed it down to the 5 they were most passionate about.

I created two worksheets for students to use to help narrow down and organise their thinking.

As a class we then created our 5 week timeline to help keep us on track!

The students used the 'Skillful Decision Making' process to help them with persuading the class on why their wonder is the 8th Wonder of the World.

I am looking forward to what the students come up with!
For most of them it is their first time following an inquiry model - it has taken some time to get students to deepen their thinking and engage in discussions.

Students were also given a budget as part of financial literacy to plan a trip to their 8th Wonder of the World. 

Puarenga Tabloids

Mokoia Intermediate left for Devon (Taranaki) on Wednesday. Puarenga learning centre was down one teacher and about a third of the students. We decided that we would have our students run their very own Top Town type games for the rest of the school.

This was a three day inquiry process

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Day one:

Students elect a manager and vice manager - these students are in charge for the three days. All group leaders to report to the managers at the start and end of every session.

Students to opt into which group they want to work in for the three days.

Options:

- Media (Reporting, photography, video)
- Activity (Deciding and organising the events)
- Planning (Timetable, groups and all organisation aspects)
- Marketing (Making posters and flyers to advertise to school, contacting businesses and parents for prizes)

Once all students were in a group, each group elected two leaders.

Now our leadership team was complete.

These leaders had the responsibility of guiding the team and reporting to the two event managers.

Groups began the planning process.

We looked at previous Top Town events to give stimulus for ideas.

Day two:

Continuation of the planning process, finalising how the day is going to run.
All groups working with each other to ensure all aspects were covered and that the deadline would be met.

Day three

Event set up
Practice run through

Whole school assembled to be briefed and the events began.

Students PMI in groups and individual reflections in class.

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Pros

- Seeing students step up into leadership roles
- Completely run by the students
- Ran smoothly on the day
- Students had fun and all were involved
- Planning group had covered all bases and stood out as being exceptional
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Active engagement for majority of students
- Year 7s led and well as year 8s. Year 8s responded well to younger leadership
- Students proud of the event


Cons/Improvements

- Didn't run entirely smoothly - early on organisation was under pressure
- Event managers were tied up with the minor issues instead of being the total overseers
- Needed a more structured time table/map for where each group goes next
- Behavioural students pushed the boundaries
- Very stressful on teachers to let go of the reigns and allow the students to make mistakes and fix them by themselves (huge learning curve for me!)

PBL Session Three - Staff Meeting 19.05.14

Walt - Choose different approaches to scaffold our students in deciding on their option for exploration

Sorting out our options before making our final decision (in regards to initial classic brainstorm)

Why do we need to choose one option?
What do you need to be thinking about when choosing that option?

- Time frame
- Resources
- The option may not answer our PBL scenario and provocative question

We need to:

- Convince a family member or a sponsor that our exploration is important for the future of humans

Number the options
- Sorting the options out in different ways
- Share the processes (work out what works for own classes)

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Scenario: The future of humans depends on exploration. You are an explorer contributing to our future. You are to produce a plan for your exploration that convinces your family, class and a sponsor that this exploration is important. 

Provocative Question: What do you need to consider to be up to the challenge of planning an exploration that will get sponsorship today?

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These topics need a specific research question

Will not let us answer the question:

- How children talk to each other
- Eternal youth
- String tapping
- Frequencies

Will let us answer the question

Bold = The option we selected

- Underground rivers
- Outer-space (possibility of life, food sources, travel)
- Mining and its effect
- Marine Biology (food source)
- Other countries
- Food evolution (how food affects health)
- Medicine (new drugs to replace ones that no longer work, cure for cancer)
- Diets (gluten free, nutrition)
- Maui's travel (exploring local marae/iwi)
- Surviving hostile environments (natural selection, wars and conflict)
- Human evolution
- Antarctica (polar ice caps melting, conservation)
- Ways to help people in need (very broad - needs to be narrowed down - could get sponsorship if it was given a context)

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Other ways to narrow down the choices

- Travel versus non travel
- Look at the list of headings from the classic brainstorm and categorise them into the categories they see fit (e.g. - food, music, myths and legends, space, geography, relationships, biology, philosophy and religion)
- Create four questions within the scenario to ask for each of the topics in the classic brainstorm
- Can  the topic answer the provocative question?
- Will the exploration help us in the future?
- Is it likely to get sponsorship?
- Is it interesting?

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Next Step: Get a generalised idea on the research questions we need to ask to answer the provocative questions

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What to include in our report to the sponsors:

- Equipment and resources needed

- Purpose

- The people you want to take with you or work with

- Potential benefits

- The ways to explore and research - e.g. - People (interviews)

- Estimated cost

- Challenges and barriers

- Expected time frame

- Who is your exploration aimed at?

- Presentation method

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Put children into pairs and have them decide on an option - must be in pairs first before the decide on an option!

 - Scaffold their choices
- Can possibly pre determine the questions

How are you going to present your final product/findings (concluding performance to share their learning) - encourage creativity. 

How persuasive is their plan?

- Pamphlet
- Poster
- Skit
- Slideshow
- Documentary Film
- Mock Trial
- Lecture
- Designing a Tool
- Muesum

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P3 Groups

Bradley and Ash
Bryce and Hunter
Maya and Tegan
Josh and Shaurye and Michael
Tanner and Kyle and Anthony
Alexa and Estelle and Sacha
Marnie and Casey
Rawinia and Senna
Devon and Matthew
Thomas and Cohen
Ronan and Daniel
Cameron and Cole

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Reflection on Process for first two sessions:

Session 1:

- Was very broad and overwhelming to begin with, was unsure of where we were headed and what the final presentation was going to look like
- Classic brainstorm was successful - student's were able to share a lot of ideas (most on topic but some that need to be weeded out using the process above)

Session 2:

- Hugely successful!!
- The decision making process encouraged a lot of discussion and tied in perfectly to our novel study
- Students were able to work in groups and individually through this critical thinking strategy

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PBL Session Two - Staff Meeting 12.05.14

- Recap PBL Exploration Scenario
- Critical Thinking Skill


"We can't just teach our children to think, we have to teach them thinking skills"


Inquiry Lesson three:

"I want you to think about a time you had to make a decision and you weren't sure what to do"
"What were you thinking about doing?"
"Can someone share some examples of what they were thinking about"
"When you were thinking about what to do that is called decision making, and all the different things your were thinking about are called options"
"How did you figure out that was the best option for you?"

- Instinct (previous experiences - (valued highly based on beliefs)
- Laziness (looking for a quick option - immediate gratification)
- Beliefs, essence, spirituality and being are an important part (students need to be mindful of this)
- What might the result be (consequences/repercussions)

"Let's think about something we have read lately, can anybody think about a decision one of the characters had to make etc..."

- Use our novel study as the hook
- This will draw out all the essentials of what they have to consider

"What decisions had to be made?"
"How did the make them?"

Decision making thinking map
- What makes the decision necessary?
- What are the options?
- What will happen as a result of the decision that you make?
- What information do you have of what the consequences are?
- How important are the consequences?
- Which option is best in light of the consequences?

- Further scaffolding with a graphic organiser

Charlotte's Web (decision making excerpt)

Could work on this in groups

- Dad decided to kill the pig because it was weak
- Fern decided her Dad had made an unfair decision
- Mrs Argyll made a decision to tell Fern what her father was doing with the axe
- Fern decided to try and talk Dad out of killing the pig
- Dad decided to explain things to Fern
- Fern decided to grab the axe (from verbal protest to physical protest)

When doing this brainstorm with the class student's may ask 'I wonder' questions or make statements, record them down and come back to them.

"Why did Dad have to make a decision?"

- Financial stand point (Vet costs)
- He said runts are always trouble
- He had already seen there was a runt in the litter
- Thinking about the other pigs well being

"Lets say your were Dad and what Fern had said to you made you think again about killing the runt piglet. What might you think about/what might his options be?"

- Give it away/donate to SPCA
- Keep it and look after it
- Make Fern responsible for it
- Release it into the wild
- Let nature take its course - leave the pig in there, if it survives it does

"Lets choose one of these options"

Option - Make Fern responsible for it

"What might the consequences be of this decision?"

- Show Fern why he wanted to get of the runt if something happens to the pig
- Fern may get emotionally attached to the pig
- Teaches Fern responsibility
- Fern might raise a healthy pig
- Dad might end up having to look after the pig if Fern loses interest
- Teach Fern manaakitanga, whakawhanaungatanga  - how to look after something other than herself
- Fern might feel relieved that the pig gets to live
- Fern might feel trusted and valued if Dad listens to her
- Dad might have to rethink what he knows

Graphic Organiser 

Give each group a consequence to evaluate

"Why do you think this will be a result of the decision?"
"How important do you think this is?"

Option - Fern will gain responsibility and raise a healthy pig

Why will this be a result of the decision?

- Dad listened to her and gave her responsibility to succeed
- Dad doesn't want to upset Fern and seem heartless
- Fern might a lesson by experience rather than listening to Dad
- Dad chooses to give Fern a chance

How important do you think this is?

High importance:
- Responsibility of ownership
- Priority
- Learning of diet, caring etc...
- Decision making for when she is adult and she is questioned

"Is this a positive consequence that supports the decision?"
"Is this a negative consequence that suggests this decision not be made?"

Add a plus or a minus to the graphic organiser 

Put this up around the room as our model for decision making

By the end of term they will need to come up with a plan that answers the provocative question! 

End of the week give them a chart to do their 5 favourite options for the exploration they want to explore. 

"I want you to use the organiser for two of your options and think about your other three options"

- Scaffold deeper thinking

Problem Based Learning Inquiry Learning Model: Exploration

Week 1 Session:

What do we already know about the pedagogy for problem based learning?

 Why have we chose problem based learning? (public information)

Overview of problem based learning

Purpose of 'what do we already know'

Classic brainstorming

Scenario

Provocative question

 What do we already know?

In Class - vocab, classic brainstorming of possible explorations

Skeleton SOLO rubric

Follow up from ‘What do we already know?’

 Throughout the week, include student and teacher assessment of ‘What we already know’ against Solo rubric.

Write reflection at end of week to share on Monday

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How can we collate our PPK?

- Each person says one statement and someone records it, tick of what is said twice and highlight ideas that you hitch-hike off

- Sticky notes

- Newsprint with post it notes

- Google Docs (pair and share)

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Why use Problem based learning?

- It occurs in a relevant and authentic context
- Opportunities for collaboration
- The learning assumes ownership over the learning approach
- Student uses critical thinking skills
- Opportunities for meaningful feedback

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Basic Conditions

- The students are hooked into learning
- Authentic problems
- Contents match student interest
- The process allows student independence
- Teacher scaffolds
- Ongoing feedback

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Inquiry in a Thinking Community

- Provocative Question (Initiation)
- Research Question
- Investigation/Synthesis
- Concluding Performance (Feedback)

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Provocative Question

- Open
- Undermining
- Connected
- Rich
- Charged
- Practical

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Classroom


Scenario: The future of humans depends on exploration. You are an explorer contributing to our future. You are to produce a plan for your exploration that convinces your family, class and a sponsor that this exploration is important. 

Provocative Question: What do you need to consider to be up to the challenge of planning an exploration that will get sponsorship today?

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Reflective Questions

What does exploration mean to you?
What does innovation mean to you?
What does opportunity mean to you?
What does challenge mean to you?
What does sponsor mean to you?

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In Class

Present the scenario and provocative questions
Find out what they already know ask the following questions:

What does exploration mean to you?
What does innovation mean to you?
What does opportunity mean to you?
What does challenge mean to you?
What does sponsor mean to you?

Teach the vocab
Brainstorm possible explorations (classic brainstorm approach) - hook the kids and expand their scope

Draw out ideas - If we were going to another country, what are the reasons we would go there?
Classic brainstorm this question

Students select their own exploration ideas

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Genius Hour Presentations

Our term of 'Genius Hour' is coming to a close. We have had varied results. Some student's were very successful in their endeavours while others chose to waste their time and didn't achieve the results they had hoped for. They spent Monday presenting their final projects to the class. They explained what their genius hour was, why the chose it and the process they took to get to their final result.

Student's were easily able to identify those who had had success and who had chosen an interesting topic. Student's that had wasted their time communicated that they would like to do 'Genius Hour' again because now they have seen a successful end result.

The whole topic was facilitated through reflection sheets, conferencing and planning sheets. I can see the areas that need improvement if I was to attempt to do this again.

It was a great way to start the year to see what they were passionate about, I was able to see their inquiry skills and where we need to go next. I was able to see who could work independently and manage their time. I was also able to see who works well in a group and who works better on their own. Although the final projects were not all amazing the process the students took was very successful. Most students identified 'Genius Hour' as their favourite subject and were always asking for it as a reward for finishing their work early.


Genius Hour Projects:

Bradley & Ash - Research about characters in 'Assassins Creed IV'
Tanner, Kyle, Michael, Bryce & Hunter - Create a working theme park in Minecraft
Ronan & Cameron - Design & create an electric rubber (initially - create a storage compartment for a jeep)
Casey & Marnie - Invent two new chocolate flavours
Maya - Design a Harry Potter app
Rawinia - Deisgn and create a jewellry box
Senna & Cassidy - Create a blog about harp seals
Tegan - Create a fitness board game
Devon - Create a blog about caring for rabbits
Daniel & Thomas - Reupholster classroom chairs/redesign classroom furniture
Anthony, Cole & Matthew - Create working fast food restaurants on Minecraft
Shaurye - Showing the class how to create a book on Toondoo
Tanner, Sacha, Alexa & Estelle - Creating a P.E. game based on the Hunger Games, designing costumes for the arrival and a reaping ceremony.

If I was to do Genius Hour again I would have a stricter focus and facilitate certain students more, e.g. - you need to fill a need by creating a product, or you need to design a prototype, test it, reflect and then present a final product. 

P3 have been discussing the idea of Genius Hour being all to do with our class YouTube channel. They want to make episodes and videos that are educational and entertaining (e.g. Kid President) on things they are passionate about. 

Depending on the time table for next term will determine whether or not this is a feasible activity.