Inquiry Project

 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

My classes this year consist of two groups of 11 students each. These 22 students consists of kids in 4th grade with ages ranging from 9-11. Four of these students are new to our school. I keep my home room on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I have the second group of students on Wednesday and Friday. Due to this new schedule, students will be receiving social studies work time two days per week.

This project is best explained in 4 phases...

Phase 1: Explore the states!	This project is a social studies based project. The purpose of this project is to collect information on a state of their choice and present what they think visitors should know about their state to give audience members the feeling of traveling to their state without leaving home. They begin their project by browsing through the National Geographic website. National Geographic has a page containing all of the states that students need to look through. After looking through all of the states, they will select 5 states that they would travel to. Students will use the “National Geographic State Organizer” doc that is posted in their google classroom to help them organize their thoughts. Once they have completed this, they will fill out the “States Question” google form, also found on their google classroom. The purpose of this page is to have a place for them to submit their top three state choices, as well as give me a better idea of what they like to do when they travel and what environments they like to visit. We will use this information together to solidify their top state choice.
Phase 2: Research	Once they have their state selected, students will begin collecting information on their state of choice. They will use the peardeck posted in our google classroom to help organize their information about their state. They will have several resources available to them to teach them about their states. All of these informational state resources are organized in a Symbaloo in order to give them a central place to refer back to.
Phase 3: Presentation	Once they have done all of their research, then the true inquiry begins.  Students must answer this how might we question: How might we make others feel like they are visiting a state without actually traveling? To answer this question, students are able to use a variety of tools. Students will look into their research to see what they know about their state, then pick what information they wish  to include in their project. They will have a choice on what their final product looks like. Choices I will give the students ( but they are not limited to) include: Kids blog, google slide presentation, book creator, create a comic, creating a tour through tour creator, recording a video through screencasting, creating a poster through piktochart, or any type of artwork. Students will decide on their own which tool to use and how to answer the how might we question sufficiently.  Students will decide on their own how they can give the audience the experience of traveling to another state, without actually going. They will need to decide what information is important to include in their projects and what the best way to present their information to others. Students are encouraged to try new tools and present information in a way that they have never done before. In the past, a state poster or an informational writing piece about their state would have been the end product. During this project, they are encouraged to think for themselves as they create their own state experience presentations.
Phase 4: Discussion	As students finish their presentation, their finished product will be posted to our class Google classroom page. Here, it will be available for classmates, other teachers/staff and people at home to view. Students will need to reply to other students by using the “Feedback Sentence Starters” template. Teachers and people at home will be encouraged to join in on the discussions.

RESOURCES 

Teacher Resources:

State Research Peardeck slides	Teachers may use this resource to help organize their students' research. This can be used with google slides or peardeck and is easily posted to Google Classroom
Student Survey	This is a google form that students will fill out to help teachers gather more information about their students likes/dislikes when it comes to traveling. I will use this to help me have conversations with students about what state they could select and help guide them to a state they truly want to learn more about.
States organizer	This is a google doc that teachers can have students fill out as students begin their research.
Regions of the US Video	This is a video NOT made by me. I have created a kids safe link that will allow it to be watched without ads. This video will be used to help students gain an understanding of the different regions in the US. It tells what states are in each region, landmarks in each region and the products they are known for.
Kahoot!	I made this Kahoot! to give students a review on the general information we will learn about the United States. This Kahoot! mostly reviews the regions of the United States. Once the students finish their projects, I will make another Kahoot! using information from each of their projects.

Student Resources:

Symbaloo	This resource houses all of the other resources that students will use throughout this unit. This is a hub for them to refer back to and a place for them to have a “one stop shopping” spot for their links.
Flocabulary	This resource will have students watch a video about regions of the US. It also provides them practice by giving the option for vocab cards/quiz. Students will watch this to help them answer the question of what region their state is in.
Peardeck  State Research	Students will use this peardeck that is posted in their Google Classroom and linked to their symbaloo. This is the place where they will collect information needed on their state to complete their final project.
National Geographic Explore the States	Students will use this page to decide which state they want to research and to gather information on their state.
Virtual Field Trips for each State	This resource provides virtual field trip opportunities for each state. Each state slide contains several different virtual field trips for students to view. They center around landmarks, important places, and tourist attractions for each state. Students will use these slides to gain more insight into what their state looks like and what it has to offer visitors.
Interactive US Map	This interactive map shows students where their state is located. When students click on their state, they will be taken to an informational video about their state. They will use this as a resource to learn more about their state.

Tech Tools:

KidBlog	As one of their options for their final presentation, students may write a blog post about their state using kidblog. Students can add works, images or videos to their post. This will be published to our google classroom for their families and peers to see. Their peers and families will read and respond to their work. They will give feedback and ask questions for the student to respond to. Students will engage in discussions with their peers and families.
Screencastify	Students can record a video of themselves giving a presentation on their state or they will narrate their project through this video tool. The final product will be published to our google classroom for their families and peers to see. Their peers and families will read and respond to their work. They will give feedback and ask questions for the student to respond to. Students will engage in discussions with their peers and families.
Comic Strips	Students will also have the option as a final project to create a comic strip about their state through Canva. My students love comic book making and make paper comics any chance they get. I think that this new way will give them the opportunity to create professional looking comics with proper images and text boxes. As with all of the other final projects, it will be published to our google classroom for their families and peers to see. Their peers and families will read and respond to their work. They will give feedback and ask questions for the student to respond to. Students will engage in discussions with their peers and families.

• The inquiry question that students are working on is How might we make others feel like they are visiting a state without actually traveling? 

• While working on this inquiry questions, students work on these standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

• MLR for S.S. Geography 2: Students understand geographic aspects of unity and diversity in various regions of the United States and the world by describing impacts of geographic features on the daily life of various cultures in the United States and the world.

• ISTE standards: Creative communicator- Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

Describe how your project promotes open inquiry where learners do not all have to arrive at the same ending place with the content or product.

My unit starts off fairly structured, then moves gradually into their own individual creative end result. The purpose of my gradual release, instead of giving them free reign, is due to their age and this being their first real inquiry project. I want them to do the appropriate research and have the information needed on their state before they have the freedom to begin their inquiry project. Once students get past the research phase, they are encouraged to think about how they can make people viewing their presentation feel like they have visited the state without actually going there. Students will have the freedom to decide what information they include in their presentation from their research. They will also have the freedom to decide what their final product will be. I will give them examples of what a final product could look like, using Maine as my example state. Students are welcome to use one of the ideas I present to them, or develop another way to answer the question. I look forward to seeing how students use what they know about their state to showcase the important features their state offers. I anticipate this being a creative project for them, where there are many different end results. Students will learn from each other by viewing their end projects and commenting on them with feedback and questions. 

Identify what learners need to learn, and then what is variable, making connections to your content area or domain standards

Based on the standards I listed above, this unit hits on a lot of informational writing skills and research based skills. Students will need to be familiar with HOW to find credible information. We have talked about finding credible sources and I have provided them with a link to National Geographic’s site that goes into detail on each state. They also have access to other tools to learn about their state available on their symbaloo site. Students will need to bring in their knowledge of how to use Google slides. We have done a project on Google slides before, so they have a base understanding of how it works. Their research notes will be taken in Google slides. Here they will document their learnings about their state, which includes:  state capital, state motto, state nickname, state bird, state animal, state flower, what region of the US their state is located, 3 interesting facts about their state and 2 places to visit/landmarks in their state (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.7). Their variable through this unit is their final projects. Students will decide the information about their states that they deem important. They will decide what information and images their audience will need in order to best experience their state. Each final project will be posted to our Google classroom page. Here, it will be viewed by families at home and peers at school. Families and students will then respond to the projects by adding comments and asking questions about the students' work. This will allow for students to engage in meaningful discussions that lead to more learning (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1). Each end project will require students to use their creativity to tell their audience about their state. They must use relevant information and organize their work in a way that makes sense to their audience. Some of this may be through images, videos and recordings (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4). Most of the tools they are using to create their end products will be new to them. This will take time and patience as we work through deciding which tools to use, getting them set up with the tool and learning how to use each tool. This is not something students will complete in a week, this will take time due to the learning curve. Throughout this unit, students are not only learning new information, but learning new ways of presenting information. 

Build a flexible framework for assessment (create at least one rubric for learners)

Feedback Response Guide

State Project Rubric

Provide a reflection about how you have planned for real-world, collaborative and learner-centered experience

I have thought hard about how to make this inquiry project meaningful, collaborative and learner centered. Each student deciding on their own which state they will research will give them ownership of their learning and get them excited about their research. Once students have completed their research, I want them to use a tool that interests them to create their final product. While creating their final project, students are able to decide what information, images, videos and links they include. They are also able to decide how they will present this information. As I stated above, I will give them examples of tech tools they can use to showcase their information, but ultimately it is up to them. This is a lot more freedom than they generally have, as typically my co teacher and I have their end projects planned for them. They will have multiple ways to collaborate with their peers. As their final projects near completion, they will have the opportunity to share their projects with a partner. They will provide each other feedback as to how they could improve their project and what they have done well so far. Once the projects are completed, we will post them to google classroom so that people at home and classmates can view them. Students and families at home will comment on the students projects using the “State Feedback” sentence starters. This is allow students to interact with one another, ask questions and engage in discussions. It will also give students a bigger audience by allowing them to show and interact with those at home. 

What barriers might you, or learners face in this experience? How might you address them?

The biggest barrier I am anticipating is the technology barrier. Many (myself included) will be using some of these technology tools for the first time. This could create frustrations among students, as they like to know how to do things well and correctly. We will have many open conversations about the frustrations of technology, but how it can be used to advance experiences in many ways. 

What are you most excited about with the plan you’ve created?

There are so many aspects of this plan that I’m excited about! I am most excited to see the student’s final projects. I am really looking forward to how seriously they will take this project and if giving them freedom to choose how to organize and present their information to their audience. Lastly, I can’t wait to see how they respond to each others project and read their feedback responses!