Burr Airlines Flight to Asia: building inquiry skills

Submitted by dpersson on Sat, 03/19/2011 - 22:36Printable version Bookmark and Share
Created By:
Dorna Persson
Title/Role:
Library Media Specialist
Organization/School Name:
Burr Elementary School
Location:
Connecticut

Grade Level:
3
Type of Lesson:
Lesson in a unit
Type of Schedule:
Flexible
Collaboration Continuum:
Intensive
Content Area:
Social studies
Content Topic:
Three countries in Asia: India, China, Japan
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Skills Indicator(s):
1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life.
1.1.3 Develop and refine a range of questions to frame the search for new understanding.
1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
Dispostion Indicator(s):
1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts.
3.2.1 Demonstrate leadership and confidence by presenting ideas to others in both formal and informal situations.
3.2.2 Show social responsibility by participating actively with others in learning situations and by contributing questions and ideas during group discussions.
Responsibilities Indicator(s):
1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within the learning community.
3.3.1 Solicit and respect diverse perspectives while searching for information, collaborating with others, and participating as a member of the community.
Self-Assessment Strategies Indicator(s):
1.4.1 Monitor own information-seeking processes for effectiveness and progress, and adapt as necessary.
1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process.
4.4.1 Identify own areas of interest.
Scenario:
This collaborative lesson is designed to introduce students to Asia and to guide them in formulating good questions to guide their research. Students are motivated by a simulated flight to Asia, and the inquiry process is stimulated by an "onboard" slide show of the countries, as students use the images they have seen to imagine they are there and to discuss the three countries and formulate questions to guide their research. Students use the SMARTBoard to drag their questions under one of three essential questions where they have determined it belongs. Students will further develop their research action plan in subsequent lessons. Students will meet several times a week for a month in a flexibly scheduled library media center under the guidance of the classroom teacher and media specialist.

Overview:
This lesson is designed to call upon student prior knowledge and build student knowledge of and interest in India, China and Japan in order to stimulate student wonder and inquiry. Students formulate research questions that are subordinate questions of the three essential questions dictated by the district social studies curriculum: How do Asian people interact with the land?; How do they interact with one another?; and How are they affected by their beliefs?

Final Product:
The final product of this lesson, which is the first step of the research process, is a list of student-generated subordinate questions organized under essential questions. Students will choose a sub-question of personal interest to them to further develop by generating sub-sub questions in the next lesson.The final product of this research project is a travel brochure created in Microsoft Publisher with text rich in describing words and a scanned images that enhance the information.

Library Lesson:
The goal of this lesson is to build student understanding of what makes a good research question and develop an understanding of different types of research questions. Students will learn to build on topic knowledge to turn their curiosity and wonder about a topic into productive questions that will guide research. Students also will learn to collaborate and build off others' input to generate interesting research questions. All questions generated by the students will be available for the individual student to choose from for his or her own research question.

Estimated Lesson Time:
60 minutes
Assessment
Product:
The student-formulated questions serve as a formative assessment. It is evident from the questions generated whether the students are understanding what makes a good research question and if they understand the various level of questioning (essential, sub-question, sub-sub question). The final product of the project is the travel brochure they create in Microsoft Publisher with text and images they have scanned. It also contains the students' works cited. The product reflects all aspects of the research process, including the quality of the students' research questions.

Process:
Students use a teacher-created rubric to learn what is expected of them before each step of the research process, and they self-assess their work using the rubric.The rubric reflects three levels of performance for note-taking, student writing, which which includes their research questions, and their images. Students have a checkpoint sheet and must conference with a teacher after each step of the research process, with the teacher initialing the checkpoint before the student may move on to the next step. Students also keep a daily action plan/reflection log of their research.

Self Questioning:
Students are taught to ask themselves if their research questions are good questions, if they are answerable, and to ask themselves if they are of personal interest to them. When working with their rubrics, they ask themselves how they can move up a performance level if needed.

Instructional Plan
Resources students will use:
Still image (i.e.paintings, drawings, plans, and maps)
Moving Image (i.e. animations, movies, tv program, video)
Sound (i.e. music playback file, audio compact disc, recorded speech or sounds)

Resources instructor will use:
Projector
Laptop
Smart board

Instruction/Activities
Direct instruction:
Students will experience a simulated airplane flight to India, China, and Japan, including student checkin with "passports" and "boarding passes" with seat assignments. The library media specialist, library assistant and classroom teacher act as the flight crew.Take-off and landings to and from each country are animated on the screen, and during the flight students view slides,hear teacher and media specialist commentary and listen to traditional music of each country.The classroom teacher and library media specialist, after showing the teacher-created slide show, lead a discussion about India, China and Japan, drawing on the content of the slides to generate student curiosity. The classroom teacher and library media specialist discuss the characteristics of an essential question and the specific three essential questions that will guide this research project. The characteristics of fact-level questions are also are discussed.

Modeling and guided practice:
The library media specialist models taking something she saw in the slide show that she is curious about and turning it into a subordinate question and placing it in the larger scheme of questions, under the appropriate essential question. Next, students think about and discuss with their neighbor what they wonder about Asia. Students then take turns writing their questions on the SmartBoard and dragging them under the appropriate essential questions, with guidance given by teachers and fellow students as needed.

Independent practice:
After students choose their own subordinate research question from the list generated, they will break it down into sub-sub questions independently. This will take place during the next lesson after the teachers have modeled the process.


Have you taught this lesson before:
Yes

Strategies for differentiation:
Since it is sometimes more difficult for students with special needs to generated multiple questions, the classroom teacher and library media specialist call on students with special needs early in the process of the students brainstorming research questions to ensure they contribute the question they have thought of before another student can contribute that question. We likewise let them choose their topic from the brainstormed list early on, discussing and guiding them before hand to an appropriate topic for them, always taking student interest into account. During the research process, we have available NetTrekker and Read, Write, Gold to read aloud Web sites, and access to Brain Pop and Discovery Streaming for video. Our book collection also reflects a wide range of reading abilities. We use Macintosh computers, which allow the students and teachers to easily enlarge the computer screen if needed. When necessary we will create Power Points of information at a level a student can comprehend. We also work with the special needs teachers to adjust student rubrics and offer creative note-taking alternatives for students.