Camp Creek Press

Me: How long have you been doing project work?

Dominic: Since I was three.

Me: How do you study a topic by doing a project?

Dominic: Instead of just reading a book, you actually do something with it. Like, when the preschoolers studied space, they didn't just read books about it. They built a rocket ship and helmets. When we were studying frogs, we made a giant frog and we made his joints move the way we learned how their joints move.

Me: So you build models? What other kinds of things do you do?

Dominic: All kinds of things. Also when we were studying frogs, we brought in frogs. We went to see frogs. We studied them.

Now I’m working on my geology project and I’ve been writing down everything I’ve learned and I’m making plans to make it into a book and hopefully sell it for lots of moola.

Me: So, some of the things you’ve mentioned include

- making models

- studying live specimens

- dramatic play

- reading books

- writing books

- taking field trips

Also, when you guys did that frog project, you had an expert come talk to you, right?

Dominic: A professor came from the university and he brought some frogs to show us. One got loose! It was hilarious.

Me: So, tell me about your geology project.

Dominic: Basically, I just get out my journal and a geology book and I read half a page and then write down in my journal what I learned that day. Also, usually most of the pages have pictures and I draw those in my journal, too.

Me: What made you interested in geology in the first place?

Dominic: We were on vacation and we were visiting the Badlands and at one of the tourist centers I got a book on geology and started reading it.

Me: What do you find interesting about geology?

Dominic: A lot of different stuff. It’s just interesting to find out how everything was made and the different processes — how volcanos are made, how rocks are made. What I was reading about yesterday was how a river will go around a convex bend and hit a block of rock and wash that rock away and then the river will slowly migrate sideways.

Me: When you’re done with your geology project, what do you think you might study next?

Dominic: I don't know. I’ll study whatever I think is interesting.

My BFF Emily, who used to teach K-3rd at the TPS, left a great comment on my post Observational drawing: Where do we go from here?. It was so great, I’m going to reproduce it here in its entirety so more people can see it.

I know this comment is after-the-fact for this conversation, but I am a "late reader" and so I'm only seeing this for the first time.

As soon as I read your post, Lori, I knew I *had* to write a comment because I still think about all the wonderful things that happened during our instrument project. Learning the instrument families --- no! Becoming *experts* on instrument families, learning how sounds travels, making the ears, the "Keyboard Controversy," all of it was amazing. It's all become a magical memory for me. One that keeps me motivated to keep trying projects in a public school setting even if it is hard and sometimes frustrating. One that reminds me all that children are capable of --- so much more than I sometimes give them credit for. One that encourages me to challenge kids. One that makes me mourn the loss of that class, and the simple fact that my own son will not ever get to experience that moment with those circumstances. (Although I hope to recreate it for him at home.)

Thank you for giving me another moment to relive that year!

I also wanted to share another story related to the "keyboard controversy." As estea pointed out, the piano is a string instrument, and, of course, we knew that as well, but the PROCESS they took to learn that fact was much more worthwhile for them since they had to discover it on their own. They learned so much more than how to classify a piano. They learned that everything written in books isn't necessarily true, as you mentioned. They learned how to debate. They learned how to make hypotheses and conclusions. (In the end, they decided that a piano was, indeed, a string instrument, BUT an electronic keyboard was a percussion instrument since it doesn't have strings.)

The story I was thinking of happened about that same time. A child in the class became very interested in the Loch Ness Monster. He asked me if it was real, and, of course, I answered, "I don't know. Why don't you try to find out?" So, he did! He checked out books on the subject, interviewed his classmates to see what they thought, and we probably looked online for information too. And then all of sudden, one day, his interest was gone. *Poof!* No more discussions, no questions, nothing. When I asked him about it, he replied, "Oh, I asked my dad what he thought, and he said it wasn't real. So now I know." And just like that, he lost so many valuable learning opportunities.

And now I've rambled for long enough. Thank you again, Lori, for writing about this!

Emily, thank you so much for taking the time to share this.

I could talk about that guitar for two hours.

I was going to post something about how we take the skills learned in observational drawing (seeing, describing, discussing, rendering) and then we branch out into the different media.

Something about how drawing then goes to sculpture and collage and painting and modeling and etc.

Then I looked at that guitar and thought about all the non-art places it took us, too.

I remember kids not just looking at instruments but tracing them with their fingers, playing a real rock-band drum set for the first time (!!), arguing passionately about whether a piano is a percussion instrument (because the hammer hits the string! percussion!) or a string instrument (because the strings make the music! string!). Making models of human ears out of clay. Learning about how things are classified — not just musical instruments, but animals, plant, birds, fish. Doing experiments on how sound travels.

Children who cannot yet read or write a single sentence can make extensive notes by drawing, notes that they can read back to you days or even weeks later, knowing exactly what they were thinking about when they first drew it. Children who cannot yet read or write a single sentence can look through stacks of books and mark interesting passages for an adult or older child to read to them later. "I'm sure this says something about the viola! Read it to me!" Pre-readers researching.

Observational drawing is the first step along a path of art and expression — collage, painting, print-making, sculpting, modeling, and so on. For those of us who homeschool, it can also be the first step in hands-on learning.

Batik, Saxophone Player, by Eli, age 8

Related stuff:

Comics project: Inquiry-Based Learning

Art lesson: Observational Drawing

Benefits of observational drawing

Observational drawing with the young and/or reluctant: tips

Sharing our work: Observational drawings

Observational drawing: Musical instruments

Art lesson: Blind-contour drawing

5 dangerous things you should let your kids do

via swissmiss

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. — Lloyd Alexander

To trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves ... and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted. — John Holt

The key is curiosity, and it is curiosity, not answers that we model. As we seek to know more about a child, we demonstrate the acts of observing, listening, questioning and wondering. When we are curious about a child's words and our responses to those words, the child feels respected. The child is respected. "What are the ideas that I have that are so interesting to the teacher? I must be somebody with good ideas." — Vivian Paley

In our projects, we use an inquiry-based approach.

We keep track of our questions. In the classroom, we would keep a whole chalkboard full of them, or giant posters of questions divided by subtopic. At home, we keep a list in our journal.

Every question is valuable, even if we're not going to try and answer it right away. While the boys write their own questions in their journals, I also keep a list of questions in mine, perhaps things they wondered about but didn't think worthy of writing down. I might bring them up again later, if the project seems to have stalled, or if something related is being talked about. "Remember when you wondered...?"

In the classroom, disagreements are also fertile ground for inquiry-based learning. They might not be obvious questions, but they show that more information is needed. Even if the children decide they agree and move on, we'll write down a note about the lack of consensus, which again we can bring up later.

Making sure we keep track of ongoing questions is part of how we "facilitate" rather than teach. The point is to have the child(ren) drive the project. Their questions are what is important. Helping them figure out how to find the answers to their questions is the goal. Not giving them the answers. Not telling them the facts and saying "I'll test you on these later." Helping them articulate what they wonder about, then showing them how to own the process of learning about something they want to learn about.

Some online resources on inquiry-based learning:

Online workshop: Inquiry-Based Learning

The Inquiry Page

Inquiry Page: Definition of Inquiry

Exploratorium: A Description of Inquiry