| 1. How does on-going, job embedded professional development (Friesen & Clifford, 2002) assist teachers to move towards more student directed inquiries which will enrich not only the learning but the teaching as well? Judy: After four months of designing, building, programming, researching, asking questions, probing for answers the children wondered aloud—why and how do things go extinct? Why and how to stars go extinct? Do planets go extinct too? What about Earth will it go extinct? What about ideas, can they go extinct? And how about technologies, can they go extinct? They knew that things die—plants die, animals die and they even knew people who died. But this was different. Extinction meant something different than dying. They knew that the dinosaurs were extinct. These children were trying to grasp what complete annihilation meant. Could people discern when something—some animal, technology, idea, star was on the brink of extinction? And what would they look for? And how would they know? And what could they do? It was then that I contacted Sharon Friesen from the Galileo Educational Network. “They want to know how and why stars, planets, ideas, technologies and ideas go extinct. Can you help?” And then from the students. “We want to know how and why things go extinct? Can you help our teacher and can you help us?”. Sharon, along with Kelly McKie Grenier, also from Galileo, worked one on one with students to gather the questions directly from the students, allowing each individual students voice to be heard. These questions became the guiding questions of our inquiry. These questions are outlined in Task # 1 - Digging for Ancestors. Kelly: When Sharon and I were able to sit one on one with students, we were able to pull from them their thoughts and opinions that might not have been heard in a busy group discussion. This one on one discussion is something that any other adult could assist the teacher with, whether it be a colleague a parent or a supervisor. When we shared the students thoughts with Judy, she saw instantly where we needed to go next, and the first task, Digging for Ancestors was born. 2. What happens when mentors and teachers work together online to create, design and plan robust inquiry work for students? Judy: Sharon Friesen began to design the Endangered...Extinct project using the students questions and the online professional development tool, io. I saw the possibilities that io could provide me, the resources collected by Sharon were invaluable to help me support the inquiry. It was not until I had completed the project that I fully understood the power of creating the project in io. It is the tool I always use now in my work with Galileo as I assist other teachers begin to understand the power of inquiry based learning. Kelly: Because io is an interactive online space, Judy, Sharon and I were able to discuss the project even when we were not all in the same room. Different people could contribute to the creation of the project as they made their own revelations about the work. I think the key to the success of this project, and any project, is the discussion and brainstorming that happens when we first start to throw ideas around. No one can brainstorm alone. 3. How do classrooms come alive when teachers have the opportunity to learn in the context of their own classrooms within a mentoring relationship? Judy: Having other teachers and mentors in the classroom with me released me from the fear of entering unchartered territory. Being able to discuss ideas with others offered me another perspective and allowed me to see the potential of this project instead of just seeing the roadblocks. I had to really examine 'what mattered" about my ideas and I was able to bounce these ideas off others. I was able to see how much more of the curriculum I was covering and this released me from designing "activities" for every curricular outcome. Kelly: Being able to be a second set of eyes in Judy's classroom allowed me to share with her things that she might not be hearing herself say. I could jump in and contribute to the knowledge creation when I saw something that might be valuable to extend. Also, Judy was able to to sit in this role when I would sometimes take the lead teacher position. We would swap roles almost by instinct, we would know when the other needed some clarity or that they could put it in a different light for the students. 4. What does it mean for a whole community of learners to come together to discuss and explore essential questions? Judy: The children began to see me in a new light. They no longer depended on me for direction and knowledge giving. Now we were directing this study together, the students insistence on furthering the work wanted me to go forward with the work. The mentors from Galileo became part of the learning as well, we created a community of learners that included; students, parents, teachers, mentors and experts. We all were participating in an active knowledge building space. Kelly: The role the experts played in this project was invaluable. They could offer us information that we otherwise would not have access to. They are on the cutting edge of their fields, so why wouldn't we ask them for answers to our questions? Sharing the work with Sharon, Judy and the students offered different perspectives that allowed the study to take a more complex look at endangered and extinct animals because each and every one of us had something to contribute to the communities understanding, and we did. |
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Conversation
as Pedagogy: Weaving the Threads of Children’s Questions How can conversation be used to make school topics living topographies and interrelated places full of diverse relationships, histories, ancestries, and characters? Can classrooms come alive through rich questions, intriguing openings and real opportunities for exploration? Is there a place for a whole community of learners to come together to discuss and explore essential questions? When students are invited into meaningful conversations about substantial ideas with field experts schooling becomes transformed. With Judy Martin, a Grade One teacher, and Dr. Sharon Friesen from the Galileo Educational Network, you will explore how children's classroom conversations shaped a 3 month inquiry into paleontology, and how documentation of these conversations became the basis of their own interpretive research. The study described in this session arose from a student question--why do things go extinct? Working across disciplines such as language arts, social studies, mathematics and art, Ms. Martin and her students focused the intellectual work of their spring term on exploring answers to this question from multiple perspectives. In the course of this study, students learned about the power of their own questions, which became increasingly sophisticated as the study progressed, to shape what they wanted and needed to know. In this shaping, the role of classroom conversations was an essential ingredient. Meeting
the Expert…Face to Face…A Video conference Galileo AGM Meeting… Question
1: Response: An animal that is extinct cannot be “helped” or “saved” because it is completely gone. Instead it can only be studied to learn about its morphology, behaviors, relationships, and evolutionary history. With modern endangered animals, the best a paleontologist can do is use the fossil record to learn about patterns in the animals’ history—geographic ranges, population densities, potentially even diet and climate patterns. This info can then be passed on to ecologists and conservation groups to understand trends in the endangered organism in a pre-human world. An important note is that, despite its negative press, extinction is normal, natural and necessary for evolution to proceed—new forms cannot develop if the niches are still occupied. A good example is that humans wouldn't’t be here today if dinosaurs still existed. Question 2: "If extinct animals are related to other animals on Earth, are they in fact extinct or have they merely taken on another form? " Response: This is a difficult question, because the answer is sort of both. A lineage may continue, but species within it will go extinct. Sort of like ancestors in a person’s family tree—great great grandparents are no longer with us, but their lineage (family) continues. Except this occurs at a species or higher level. This is much like the currently popular birds-dinosaur relationship. This often
happens when a species diverges into better-adapted forms. These new
forms out compete the ancestor, which goes extinct. Sometimes, an entire line can also go extinct, leaving no modern forms. To further the bird-dinosaur example, while the birds evolved from one very small group of theropod dinosaurs (continuing that particular line) most of the dinosaurs, such as sauropods and the horned dinosaurs, have no descendents, and as such those lineages are entirely extinct. The students had gone way beyond wanting “facts” they could reiterate, they were now in a place where they in fact wanted to challenge and test those theories that Sean was providing them with. |
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