3I's SOLE experiences
3I are a mainstream year 3 class consisting of 29 students. None of the students had any prior experiences dealing with SOLE. However, it didn't take long for them to become engaged, get involved and take ownership over their learning. The first SOLE lesson consisted of introducing the concept of SOLE and what would be required of them. They were introduced to the four roles each one of them would need to take on within their groups and informed that they need to work together to brainstorm ideas, undertake their own research, answer the question and present their findings to the class. They also found out they needed to solve problems within their groups and work together to come to a solution rather than asking the teacher to intervene. (This took them a little while to get used to!)
SOLE experience 1 - Can you kill a goat by staring at it?
Students were introduced to the question - Can you kill a goat by staring at it?
Students then chose their own groups of four and chose a role. Roles include:
Police officer - Manages the group and makes sure they are on task.
Materials manager - Collects materials at the beginning of the lesson and returns them at the end.
Scribe - Write down everyone's ideas and what they have found out.
Computer monitor - Only person allowed to use the computer.
Students were given half an hour to research
and answer the question. A lot of the students began to answer the question
based on their background knowledge and ideas. Majority of the class thought
that you couldn't kill a goat by staring at it. Although each group answered the
question, they were not able to elaborate why they came to that conclusion.
Findings at the end of the lesson.
1. They need more time!
2. Students' struggled to find relevant information to back up their ideas and/or they couldn't understand and make connections between what they found and how it could help them answer the question.
3. Students' need to understand the purpose of what they are doing.
Students then chose their own groups of four and chose a role. Roles include:
Police officer - Manages the group and makes sure they are on task.
Materials manager - Collects materials at the beginning of the lesson and returns them at the end.
Scribe - Write down everyone's ideas and what they have found out.
Computer monitor - Only person allowed to use the computer.
Students were given half an hour to research
and answer the question. A lot of the students began to answer the question
based on their background knowledge and ideas. Majority of the class thought
that you couldn't kill a goat by staring at it. Although each group answered the
question, they were not able to elaborate why they came to that conclusion.
Findings at the end of the lesson.
1. They need more time!
2. Students' struggled to find relevant information to back up their ideas and/or they couldn't understand and make connections between what they found and how it could help them answer the question.
3. Students' need to understand the purpose of what they are doing.
Take two.. How do our eyes know to cry when we are sad?
Before I implemented this lesson I reflected on our previous one. How can I get different results this time?
1. Give them a purpose! I began the lesson by showing them pictures of people crying. I then told them I've been feeling sad lately and that I find myself crying which led me to think ... How do our eyes know to cry when we're sad? I then set them a mission to answer my question.
2. More time. I allocated 80 minutes in total for us to walk down to the computer labs, introduce the question, research time, present our findings, debrief and walk back to class.
1. Give them a purpose! I began the lesson by showing them pictures of people crying. I then told them I've been feeling sad lately and that I find myself crying which led me to think ... How do our eyes know to cry when we're sad? I then set them a mission to answer my question.
2. More time. I allocated 80 minutes in total for us to walk down to the computer labs, introduce the question, research time, present our findings, debrief and walk back to class.
How did we do this time?
Students were more confident this time as they knew what was expected. They were given 20-30 minutes to research and come up with an answer. As I walked around I noticed they were writing down the different reasons why we cry so I reminded them they needed to tell me how my eyes know to cry and not just why my eyes cry. Some groups used their background knowledge to guide their research. Most of the groups came up with "Our brain tells our eyes to water and cry when we are sad." One group added the tears then tell people you are sad.
Overall I was pleased with how the students worked, the effort they placed and their conclusions. Each group was able to present their findings to the rest of the class and we were able to have a debrief session before we walked back to class. I told them they had succeeded in their mission and I finally had an answer to my question. (They were quite proud of themselves!)
Students were more confident this time as they knew what was expected. They were given 20-30 minutes to research and come up with an answer. As I walked around I noticed they were writing down the different reasons why we cry so I reminded them they needed to tell me how my eyes know to cry and not just why my eyes cry. Some groups used their background knowledge to guide their research. Most of the groups came up with "Our brain tells our eyes to water and cry when we are sad." One group added the tears then tell people you are sad.
Overall I was pleased with how the students worked, the effort they placed and their conclusions. Each group was able to present their findings to the rest of the class and we were able to have a debrief session before we walked back to class. I told them they had succeeded in their mission and I finally had an answer to my question. (They were quite proud of themselves!)
What makes a school environment engaging?
Mission: Find out what students want from their playground. How can the school environment be best utilised? The best way to find the answers to these questions is to ask the students and that's exactly what we did.
Our latest project is to transform our school environment. The students of 3I have absolutely loved sharing their ideas and boy, did they come up with some ideas!
They have broken into interest groups and are investigating different things. Some of their ideas include creating a games area where students can take part in different activities such as archery, brightening the school with murals made with recycled bottle tops, building cubby houses where students can chill out in, read in or stay warm in (during the colder days), creating little gardens made with recycled objects such as bottles and eggshells as well as transforming the rubbish bins to encourage students to use them. 3I are still coming up with different ideas and are investigating how to make their ideas into reality. Stay tuned to learn about our progress.
Miss Isaac
Our latest project is to transform our school environment. The students of 3I have absolutely loved sharing their ideas and boy, did they come up with some ideas!
They have broken into interest groups and are investigating different things. Some of their ideas include creating a games area where students can take part in different activities such as archery, brightening the school with murals made with recycled bottle tops, building cubby houses where students can chill out in, read in or stay warm in (during the colder days), creating little gardens made with recycled objects such as bottles and eggshells as well as transforming the rubbish bins to encourage students to use them. 3I are still coming up with different ideas and are investigating how to make their ideas into reality. Stay tuned to learn about our progress.
Miss Isaac