My Focus Question
Overarching question:
How can teachers incorporate individual interests and prior knowledge into coursework design?
Does engaging prior knowledge and interests promote students to become active participants and constructors of their own knowledge and learning?
Story of the question:
I became aware of the importance of engaging students’ interests and prior knowledge this summer during my field placement at PIC. Each day the students were presented with opportunities for guided discovery, such as an insect under a microscope, a basket full of colorful dominos, or a piece of wax set out in a bowl for students to touch. At the same time that I was observing an environment full of open invitations for inquiry-based learning, I was learning about the consciousness with which learning environments are designed. Reading the chapter about the Dinosaur Project in The Hundred Languages of Children influenced my pedagogical thinking more so than any other text. The students collaborated amongst themselves to plan, guide and execute a project that was based on prior knowledge and interest that the students expressed in the topic. Committed to creating a life-size dinosaur, the students were both responsible and accountable for their own knowledge. The chapter allowed me to see the value of the concept of children as co-constructors of their learning. I began to conceive of this methodology as a personal ideal in achieving and maintaining student engagement throughout a lesson or unit.
In addition to reading about the methods of the Reggio Emilia approach, How People Learn’s discussion of learner centered environments resonated with me. The text describes diagnostic teaching as an attempt to discover what students think by starting from the structure of their knowledge (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, p. 134). Learner centered teachers “recognize the importance of building on the conceptual and cultural knowledge that students bring with them to the classroom” (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, p. 134). By tapping into their prior experiences, teaching with a learner centered approach allows for students to be the focus of growth and allows them to construct their own meanings.
Another way of engaging students’ interests is by asking students to share. Establishing a classroom environment where sharing is woven into the framework allows students to become excited about sharing their interests, promotes awareness of their classmates’ interests, and allows each child to feel valued as an individual among a collective. In The First Six Weeks of School, Denton and Kriete suggest guided discovery as a way of generating interest and creativity (p. 46). “It is important for the children to have time to truly explore” (p. 46). In addition to guided discovery, the idea of students as active constructors of their own knowledge became central to my understanding of how students develop critical thinking skills; they have to want to learn. In order to accomplish this objective, I believe that their prior knowledge must first be engaged, and that maintaining that engagement can be achieved through activating interests.
Current beliefs regarding the question:
While engaging students’ interest and prior knowledge is my main pedagogical objective in promoting critical thinking within a classroom environment, I believe that these goals can be best achieved over a long-term project or unit, such as seen with the Dinosaur Project. I am a little concerned with methods to engage students’ interests in a meaningful way during single lessons. I believe that students bring their prior knowledge to many fields, and it is my responsibility as a teacher to ask questions and elicit their opinions, and to get students to share their prior knowledge of a given subject. I wonder what questions are best to ask in order to facilitate these connections for students.
I also feel as though designing a unit rather than a lesson is a more effective way of enacting this pedagogical focus. During the summer semester, I began thinking of how to structure a long-term project that engaged individual interests and fueled students to become active participants in the work. Though underdeveloped, the unit I planned allowed for differentiated learners to engage their interests by designing their own projects and submitting proposals based on a whole group read aloud. A longer-spanning unit would allow for deeper development of knowledge and authentic understanding. I wonder what the best manner is to engage interests and existing knowledge during short lessons as well.
How can teachers incorporate individual interests and prior knowledge into coursework design?
Does engaging prior knowledge and interests promote students to become active participants and constructors of their own knowledge and learning?
Story of the question:
I became aware of the importance of engaging students’ interests and prior knowledge this summer during my field placement at PIC. Each day the students were presented with opportunities for guided discovery, such as an insect under a microscope, a basket full of colorful dominos, or a piece of wax set out in a bowl for students to touch. At the same time that I was observing an environment full of open invitations for inquiry-based learning, I was learning about the consciousness with which learning environments are designed. Reading the chapter about the Dinosaur Project in The Hundred Languages of Children influenced my pedagogical thinking more so than any other text. The students collaborated amongst themselves to plan, guide and execute a project that was based on prior knowledge and interest that the students expressed in the topic. Committed to creating a life-size dinosaur, the students were both responsible and accountable for their own knowledge. The chapter allowed me to see the value of the concept of children as co-constructors of their learning. I began to conceive of this methodology as a personal ideal in achieving and maintaining student engagement throughout a lesson or unit.
In addition to reading about the methods of the Reggio Emilia approach, How People Learn’s discussion of learner centered environments resonated with me. The text describes diagnostic teaching as an attempt to discover what students think by starting from the structure of their knowledge (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, p. 134). Learner centered teachers “recognize the importance of building on the conceptual and cultural knowledge that students bring with them to the classroom” (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, p. 134). By tapping into their prior experiences, teaching with a learner centered approach allows for students to be the focus of growth and allows them to construct their own meanings.
Another way of engaging students’ interests is by asking students to share. Establishing a classroom environment where sharing is woven into the framework allows students to become excited about sharing their interests, promotes awareness of their classmates’ interests, and allows each child to feel valued as an individual among a collective. In The First Six Weeks of School, Denton and Kriete suggest guided discovery as a way of generating interest and creativity (p. 46). “It is important for the children to have time to truly explore” (p. 46). In addition to guided discovery, the idea of students as active constructors of their own knowledge became central to my understanding of how students develop critical thinking skills; they have to want to learn. In order to accomplish this objective, I believe that their prior knowledge must first be engaged, and that maintaining that engagement can be achieved through activating interests.
Current beliefs regarding the question:
While engaging students’ interest and prior knowledge is my main pedagogical objective in promoting critical thinking within a classroom environment, I believe that these goals can be best achieved over a long-term project or unit, such as seen with the Dinosaur Project. I am a little concerned with methods to engage students’ interests in a meaningful way during single lessons. I believe that students bring their prior knowledge to many fields, and it is my responsibility as a teacher to ask questions and elicit their opinions, and to get students to share their prior knowledge of a given subject. I wonder what questions are best to ask in order to facilitate these connections for students.
I also feel as though designing a unit rather than a lesson is a more effective way of enacting this pedagogical focus. During the summer semester, I began thinking of how to structure a long-term project that engaged individual interests and fueled students to become active participants in the work. Though underdeveloped, the unit I planned allowed for differentiated learners to engage their interests by designing their own projects and submitting proposals based on a whole group read aloud. A longer-spanning unit would allow for deeper development of knowledge and authentic understanding. I wonder what the best manner is to engage interests and existing knowledge during short lessons as well.