Summer Diary #5:

Hands-On Learning
Is for Teachers, Too!

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure and challenge of giving a two-and-a-half hour presentation on investigative learning to my staff as a part of our summer inservice. It went extremely well, and many staff members gave me enthusiastic compliments on the usefulness of the presentation, which, in the end, is all that really matters.

I tried to model my presentation after good instruction. Too many workshops I have been to are the "Do as I say, not as I do" variety where presenters lecture on endlessly even as they tell us not to lecture our students for sixty minutes. I find during those lecture-style workshops that my mind wanders or I am so caught up in trying to make good notes that I end up taking away very little deep understanding of the concepts discussed.

If active, hands-on instruction where individuals are involved in creating their own meaning is best practice for students, why don't presenters use their forum to model effective instruction and be effective instructors themselves?

We learn through struggle

I knew my staff could not handle a large amount of talk, and I also knew that earlier workshops on investigative learning had been largely ineffective because they never had to struggle to create meaning for themselves. I have a wealth of knowledge on the topic because I have had to puzzle through how investigative learning looks in the language arts classroom. I have had to put my new knowledge into a meaningful context, and I wanted to give my staff the opportunity to do the same.

So, with the dual goals of modeling investigative learning instruction and helping my staff create meaning, I designed a workshop that involved approximately 15-minutes of lecture and more than two hours of activity. I got the idea for my presentation from the fairy tale and Cinderella unit I did earlier this year with my sixth graders.

Using The Lorax by Dr. Seuss as an anchor, I divided the staff into five groups that each had a different investigative task to complete. I created tasks for math, social studies, health/P.E., language arts, and science -- all good examples of open-ended, student-driven activities.

After each group completed its activity I put the staff into new jigsaw groups where they had to describe the activity they completed earlier, discover five to seven commonalities among the activities, and write their own definition of investigative learning. Each group then presented its findings to the staff.

They were amazed. Although each group had a little different view about what investigative learning was and some of the common elements, all of them were absolutely correct. Common elements listed included:
* activated prior knowledge
* some research involved
* knowledge is shared among classmates and/or group members
* applicable across content areas
* integrates content (i.e., requires more than just science skills, math skills, etc.)
* student accountability

The definitions were also thoughtful:
"Investigative learning is a student-centered, hands-on, higher-order thinking, team participating, self/peer checking, search for one's own answers approach [to learning]."

"Investigative learning is a cooperative, hands-on learning process, where you learn as you explore and discover a topic in depth using multiple resources. The teacher acts as a facilitator."

I was ecstatic with the results! We spent some time as a staff discussing what we had learned, traded ideas, and questioned each other to deepen our learning. I felt the crunch of time, and I hated to have to end the discussion. However, I had one more activity planned that I felt was necessary to cement their understanding of the concept.

Turning the table

So far they had played the part of the student and the researcher, but they had not played the part of the teacher. The final activity was for them to create their own investigative learning plan or project that they could actually use in their classrooms this next year. Unfortunately, this became a homework assignment because we ran out of time, and few people turned their plan into me on Thursday. (These are the same people who complain about their trouble getting their own students to turn in their homework...ironic, isn't it?)

Still, I am going to pursue getting these plans from them because I think it is important. I promised to give them feedback, and we are going to publish our own Turner Middle School sourcebook on investigative learning that we can share with new staff members or other schools.

Before giving my presentation, I did not know what to expect. I can honestly say I was impressed by the seriousness with which my colleagues undertook these tasks. The effectiveness with my staff in helping them create their own knowledge, however, only serves to reinforce my dedication to teaching in a constructivist manner.

Now I have another challenge on the horizon. This week I am giving another presentation on classroom management, and I am struggling with how to embed this new knowledge in a similar structure. I am also wondering if I should use their tardy homework as a way to help them see the world through their students' eyes.

Hmmm. I think I'd better think on that a bit.

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