Happy New Year to you all!  I’m feeling recharged after the break and ready to jump into our project.  Before the break, we kind of bit off more than we could chew.  As I previously mentioned, the kids are very enthusiastic about their topics and have some very broad plans and ideas.

Over the break, I did some of my own research on teaching kids how to be researchers and found some very helpful resources that I am using to guide the kids with their projects.  I will list these resources in my resources section.  We have been slowing things down and looking more closely at what research is, why we research, how research can look, and what tools we can use.

This week we are going to dig a little deeper into why they have chosen their topics, and what it is that they want to learn and share.  They have already begun by listing what they know, how they can verify what they know and what questions they have about their topics.  If they are working in pairs or groups, they have meet with their partner(s) to highlight the important information that they already know and the most important questions they have.  They will use this information to decide what they want to include in their projects and what research questions they will be exploring.

They are being very patient with me because they just want to get at it, but I’ve promised them that right now it’s mostly about me, but as we work together to clarify their research goals and products, I will be handing the reigns over to them.

I would love to hear of any inquiry or research resources you know of and if you have any suggestions.  I’m also very interested hearing about any tutorials for some of the iPad apps that you would recommend.

Thanks

Lisa