Getting Students to Talk About Their Learning

The War of 1812 gym-sized map provoked a great deal of curiosity among my grade 7 students. Once the map was repacked for shipping we discussed what would have made the experience better. The class really wanted to play War of 1812 Risk right on the map. They also felt that a digital interactive component would add to the map. They have decided to create QR-coded digital media that other students can use while standing on the map. Extensions will include using Minecraft, Scratch, Stop Motion or ... to create interactive games. Our dream project is to acquire access to a 3D printer to create action figures for the map. We are working on that.

We identified broad topics that are important to cover.

Students then selected specific areas of interest and had 2 periods to explore those interests in greater depth.

Knowledge Building Map

As students construct knowledge, they are mapping the evolution of their learning. The map provides structure and allows learners to document the many directions their learning takes as they explore and construct knowledge. It is from this process that real questions emerge - questions that are worth exploring. 

The student below began with Dolly Madison, wife of  the American President Madison who had declared war on Great Britain. Initial explorations covered "Retell" content, information that is on the lowest level of the Thinking Matrix (when and where was she born, etc)  I had mentioned to the student that Dolly Madison was known for having saved the painting of George Washington during the Burning of Washington. The student discovered during her research that it wasn't Dolly who had saved the painting, but rather a slave. This gave me the opportunity to bring the class together and examine how topics can change direction. The class found the information surprising and a whole set of questions emerged. The student now has a sub-topic to explore. This also gave me the opportunity to point out that because only one website had mentioned the slave, it was necessary to find other sources that could confirm or disconfirm the information. 

Students are using Smart Ideas Concept Mapping to construct their maps, however, we will continue to construct the Dolly Madison  map together to demonstrate how learning meanders.

After several periods, students came together to share their learning to date. This has become one of my favourite activities because it forces students to remember, think and speak about their learning. This is not easy and not something many students are comfortable doing. They need practice with academic conversation. 

I went over the skills we are developing through Accountable Talk.

Next, each group was given a set of conversation prompts. The speaker received the yellow card and the other 3 members received the green cards.

Students then had to share their learning. This is so much more effective than a whole class discussion because all students are speaking and listening. Conversation was sustained for at least 15 minutes and students who normally sit back and share nothing in large groups become engaged. 

At one group, one student had very little to say. He is interested in a particular ship, but had learned very little about the ship and did not really know what he should be researching. The group persisted with questions - How big was the ship? How many canons did it have? How did it sink? Where did it sink? Which battles was it in? At the end of the discussion, the student had many ideas about what he could research. 

Finally, students reflected on the process. I found it interesting that several students in response to the, "What do you need to work on?" question,  mentioned that they realized they needed to know their information in order to talk about it. They recognized the difference between reading and adding content to a project and having to discuss their understanding of  content in a group. It requires them to step up their game! 

Students have been through this process once and know that next week they will need to bring something interesting about their learning to share with their group. This is motivating them to learn.

The Empathy Toy Kickstarter

Last spring my class experienced The Empathy Toy. It was one of the best learning experiences I have ever brought into my classroom. The blogpost about the Toy is here:

This Canadian start-up has now launched a Kickstarter

It is not often that I directly endorse private sector companies on this blog. The Empathy Toy  is a venture that I feel comfortable supporting because of the rich learning that the toy allows.

I really hope that 21 Toys makes the $45 000 target because this is a toy that needs to be in classrooms.

(and I am eagerly awaiting The Failure Toy)

Sparking Curiosity - Waiting for Godot?

This week our school hosted the giant War of 1812 map (10.7 m (35') x 7.9 m (26') that is currently traveling to schools across Canada free of charge thanks to Canadian Geographic. 

We loved the map!

It was truly exciting to stand on a map of that size.

"I realized how big Canada is."

"I never realized we lived in an area where an important war had taken place."

"It was fun seeing the places I have been to."

"I didn't know where places were and now I understand better where they are."

"I saw how all the forts were near water"

"I didn't realize that so much of Canada was forest then"

I understand now why Upper Canada is called Upper and Lower Canada is called Lower. (this has long-confused Canadian children.) 

"I thought the war was only between the British and the Americans. I didn't realize the First Nations people had an important role"

"I saw why the British dominated the oceans. They had way more ships."

We used the map in different ways and the activities included in the kit were very user friendly.

As an observer of learning I noticed .many things.

Students personalized their learning and created different experiences for themselves. One group was a definite highlight for me. They were using the Canada Revisited history textbook timeline of the war and then trying to locate where the events took place on the map. Most groups did this by wandering up and down the map looking for place names.  It did not take one group long, though,  to figure out that they could use the iPads to determine the  co-ordinates of  various events and then use the lines of longitude and latitude on the map to quickly find the exact location.

Students constructed knowledge of the war by visiting the excellent War of 1812 Livebinder from the HCDSB. 

On Friday the map left - much to the students' dismay. They were just beginning to figure out that we else we could do with the map. One week was not long enough. 

For me, though, I recognized the moment - the moment I've been waiting for since September - when a class shifts from going through the motions of school to engagement. I have to admit it has been hit and miss with this group of learners. We've had moments of intense engagement followed by retreat. Trying to find the entry point has been difficult. The range of types of learners is vast, the class is large and interests are varied. What fully captures some,  disinterests others.  I was beginning to think that I might be Waiting for Godot the entire year.

I've been through the process often enough now though,  to recognize the shift when true and whole class curiosity emerges. Learners begin to ask questions and pitch ideas because they are interested and see possibilities.  Our class project emerged out of the debrief. We shared what we had found interesting, what we'd learned and for the first time in 23 years of teaching a student asked what I had learned. She was curious. I don't think students often see their teachers as fellow learners so it was a question I really appreciated. Our discussion turned to what could make the map experience better and from that a real-world project was born that the students are excited about. They are thrilled that they will be working with purpose to create something that others will use. 

Our project-based learning will involve math, programming, QR codes, science, history, geography, language, media, problem-solving and communication. It will take me into territory I have never been before which is the best place a teacher  can be. 

Godot has arrived!

Evaluating Evidence

Built into our First Nations Inquiry is skill building. Students are learning how to construct queries and use search operatives. Our lessons for this come directly from Google, although we will be looking at other search engines.  Searching is one of those skills that students deemed "digital natives" are thought to have merely because they know how to type something into Google. Most, however, have very poor search skills and waste a great deal of time when searching for information.  We spent 3 50 minute periods learning basic search skills and today when students had to find information, it was satisfying to see how efficient their searching had become.

We used the text below to find key words that could be used to construct queries. This is a good example of the shift to inquiry and knowledge building. In the past I would have taught the theory. Now the theory becomes incidental, but content is learned anyway.

Students also read information on the Atlantic Crossing theory which is believed to have taken place much earlier than the Beringia crossing.

Next we watched the docudrama Ice Age Columbus from Discovery Channel which explores the Atlantic Crossing Theory. We viewed with the intent of finding evidence to support the theory.

Students had to consider and learn to distinguish between what was "story" created by the film-makers and what was actual evidence. They also learned that evidence was more than physical objects.

Finally, students considered which evidence was strong evidence and which was weak. At this point, they feel that the computer models of weather and and ice flow patterns are the weakest evidence and that the 1 arrowhead and the DNA are the strongest. We then wondered why only 1 arrowhead was found which led to speculation.

Adam proposed an interesting idea - if they were primarily coastal people, they would have stayed close to the shoreline. When the ice age ended, water levels would have risen. Arrowheads may be lying on the ocean floor. 

Students now wish to speak with experts to find answers to their questions.

Idea Diversity and Breaking Down Communication Barriers in Education

On November 5th I had the pleasure of being a panelist at the 4th annual MindShare Learning Canadian EdTech Leadership Summit at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto. The theme of the summit was Beyond Pockets of Innovation.

The day was interesting for many reasons but it was the nature of the audience that I found most intriguing.

We were:

Educators
Start-Up Companies
Executives
CEO's
Policy People
Marsians (Martians? What do you call the people at MaRS who foster innovation and entrepreneurship?)
Business Owners
Education Administrators
Researchers
Graduate Students
Event Organizers


This was the most diverse group of people that I have encountered at an event focused on education.

As I listened to presenters, observed start-ups pitch their companies, learned of fascinating research projects and participated in round table discussions, it struck me how much educators lose because we tend to engage in professional development conversations only with other educators. Perhaps the term "silo" has become somewhat cliche, but it is apt when it comes to how conversations in and about education happen. We talk amongst ourselves.

One person that I was able to converse with was Douglas Williamson, CEO of The Beacon Group. Mr Williamson hosted a conversation on "The Global Stage: Exporting Canada's Innovations."  It was an eye opening experience, because it brought me into a world that I do not know, yet must prepare students for. Where else but at an event such as this would I have such an opportunity? Kudos to Robert Martellacci  for thinking it important that this kind of relationship building begin.

 From Mr Williamson I learned where opportunities lie for Canadian business. I learned what it is about how Canadians approach problem-solving and communication that is beneficial and what we do that creates barriers. I learned that the federal government has pretty much disappeared from assisting Canadian businesses develop trading relationships in other countries and what businesses must now do to counter that. I learned which countries are better for women who wish to grow their businesses internationally. What I wanted to find out from Mr. Williamson was what do I need to do to best prepare students for that world? His answer surprised me. I am paraphrasing, but it went something like this, "I don't need the specialist who has a very narrow focus and not much experience. I need the wind surfer who has traveled, knows opera and has a range of experiences that he or she can draw upon." He needs creative thinkers and problem solvers.

Another conversation I sat in on was "Ready, set, grow! How Do Education Start-Ups Scale Their Innovations?" with John Myers, President, Edsby and Joe Wilson, Education Advisor, MaRS. Again, it was fascinating and completely outside the realm of typical discussions that occur in elementary education - and yet, what I learned was invaluable and so relevant to my teaching practice. Once again, I posed a question related to how we educate students.  If we are to graduate students who think in terms of,  "I'm going to run my own company," rather than "I'm going to find a job." what needs to be fostered? The response echoed Mr. Williamson's.  Business is about seeing problems and finding solutions. Students need opportunities to solve problems.

Having the opportunity to learn from those so far outside the world of  public school education brought home the significance of 'idea diversity' when attempting to find innovative solutions to problems in education. It left me wondering how this might happen on a more regular basis and what it could mean to learners and our institutions if educators were given time to learn from those outside our profession and if those outside our profession could learn from us.

Thank you, MindShare Learning for planning such an interesting event.

Theory Building and the Language of Thinking

My grade 6 students begin our First Nations inquiry and learn to use the language of thinking.

We aim for idea diversity, so students first work independently to devise their own theories.

After sharing theories we discuss which are plausible, which are implausible.


Next, students turn to the textbook to read about various science-based origin theories. Because they have a purpose for reading, students are curious and focused.

Students confirm or disconfirm their theories. We discuss why either outcome is desirable.

Beginning the New History Curriculum with Theory Building

The new Ontario grade 7 History curriculum begins in the year 1713. Perhaps that year should have said something to me right away, but I'll confess, it didn't. It took some research to find out why that seemingly arbitrary year is our starting point. To launch the unit, I wanted to find out students' starting points. When they hear "1713", what do they imagine life in Canada was like?

To do this, though, students had to first clear up misconceptions about the word "technology". I placed one object on each group's table: a ruler, a stapler, a pencil, a paper clip ... and asked, "Is this technology?" It is common for people to understand technology to be electronic and my students were no different. It took some discussion before they reached clarity.

Students moved to an independent silent thinking activity that took about 40 minutes. For those who follow my blog, you'll know why that independent thinking time is so important.

I distributed this sheet and asked them to imagine life in Canada in 1713. What was it like? What were their theories and could they explain why they thought that?

This was an unexpectedly revealing activity. The number of students who described gender roles in variations of "men went out and did all the hard work and women stayed home and looked after the children and did the easier work" was alarming.

It was, however, a pleasure to watch students wrestle with thinking. Did they have electricity then? Were there roads? Several were frustrated that they weren't allowed to find answers to their questions so they could construct better theories. Many students realized that how they answered one box impacted responses in others. Some students had extensive schema to draw upon; others very little. Some students could make extended connections; others struggled. I, however, now have a very clear picture of how my students think.  

Education, Design Thinking and the Value of Story

I had an experience this week that was a stark contrast to any kind of planning I have encountered in education. It was in that moment that I realized why we are so often unable to find truly innovative and satisfactory solutions to challenges within our schools. We’re not just working in school systems designed for a previous era, we’re also using problem-solving strategies and tools designed for a previous era.

I am part of a group at University of Toronto's Rotman I-Think initiative exploring how we might create capacity for Integrative Thinking in teacher education. Our first meeting took place guided by some very skilled facilitators who understand the principles of design thinking - something that I have only begun to explore in depth this year.

Typically when planning happens in schools - as I have experienced it, this may not be the case everywhere - we come together in a rush; state the problem, suggest solutions and then select. Part of this has to do with the nature of schools. We are social workers, educators, supervisors, coaches, volunteers, administrators and crisis intervention workers rolled into 1. We are also constrained by insufficient personnel and limited budgets.  Decisions are limited by the series of official policy binders that come down from above - we have shelves full of them. Board officials are accountable to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry is accountable to the Premier and our elected representatives.  Our elected representatives work under the scrutiny of the ever fickle media who shape stories. The next election is always within sight. Unions who work hard to protect working conditions, salaries and benefits negotiate contracts that limit how schools can be structured and who can work in them. Parent perceptions impact our choices. Finally, our professional development days which could be used to allow in-depth conversations that lead to thoughtful well-structured solutions have disappeared. (Buried under all this weight are the children).  This means that our work is often reactive. A situation arises and it must be dealt with. Often, though, our solutions are unsatisfactory and frequently, whatever strategy is selected is never implemented or poorly implemented because we are faced with the next 'crisis'.

I came to the realization this week that how we approach solution finding is part of what is limiting our ability to move forward. Because we work under these enormous pressures we enter into conversations with solutions already in mind. We have no framework for exploring whether or not we are even solving the right problem, nor the tools for devising appropriate and effective solutions. Our approach leads to hits and misses.

Problem Exploration

Integrative and Design Thinking work very differently. Planning begins with the belief that until a complex problem has been fully explored any suggested solutions are premature and may even limit one's ability to find innovative solutions. Central to all of this is the ability to recognize assumptions and conclusions so that the actual problem that needs to be solved can be discovered. What Design and Integrative Thinking provide are very flexible tools to engage in this process. Finally, any solutions found must be built on a foundation that is human-centered. Solutions must meet the needs and goals of those who will be impacted by the solution. To find a human-centered solution, Design Thinking begins with story and that is where we began.

We were asked to share two personal stories one positive, one negative about our experiences as learners from any point in our education - formal or informal. As each person told his or her story, listeners were asked to "notice what we noticed". Once a story was finished we shared our observations which were gathered on chart paper. It was here that I once again saw the benefits of something Richard Messina refers to as "idea diversity". Different people notice different things which brings a richness to the extraction of information. Finally, once all the observations were visible we were asked to look for patterns.

The group leaders were trying to find out what creates a valuable educational experience. No assumptions were made ahead of time of what that might be. Through the human-centered stories valuable information emerged. Finally, by identifying patterns in the stories, the group could begin to create a model of what a valuable educational experience looks like.

On the drive home that evening I pondered how much time we waste circling around solution finding because we don't have training and strategies for this. When I first brought Integrative Thinking into my classroom, it was because I felt it provided a toolkit for effective inquiry. I now see that it is essential that educators, administrators and policy makers become Integrative and Design Thinkers if we are to move beyond merely implementing innovative practices here and there, and instead design a school system that meets the needs of the current era. We can't design an appropriate system if we are still using the problem solving approaches and planning tools of the previous century.

Structuring Effective Collaboration and the Place of the Individual

When someone says "group work", there are common reactions - students who usually end up doing all the work cringe; students who are adept at riding on coat tails smile; teachers who struggle with how to measure and assess student contributions worry about accountability.

My early attempts at resolving these problems included something called "Co-operative Learning", in which tasks were structured in specific ways and students took on assigned roles in order to achieve a group goal. While I did see some benefits to this approach, I also saw limitations, primarily around student agency. Being assigned the role of "recorder" or "reader" did not always play to a student's strengths and a group could become bogged down if group members were unhappy with their assigned roles. There was a level of falsity or "schoolness" to the format.

We then moved to flexible groupings which were more responsive to the needs of learners. If through reading student work it was discovered that 5 students did not understand an element of a task, those students would be brought together so that the misconception could be resolved. Often this would be done with the support of the Learning Resource teacher. I would explain the need and then send that small group for assistance.

Collaborative Inquiry requires learners to work together to solve a problem, complete a project or find answers to their personal questions within the boundaries of the curriculum and then create something which demonstrates learning. With Collaborative Inquiry, however, there is still the issue of individual accountability.

There is also an issue that I was not aware of until now - that in order for innovative solutions to problems to be found, it is important that there be distance between group members.

Clive Thompson, Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our World for the Better,
p. 164

It became very clear to me. Groups often end up with "group think" and tend to go with the ideas and decisions of the quickest thinker or the most dominant member of the group who then ends up feeling used because he or she has done all the work. Quieter students who need more time to reflect and process can lose their voices in groups. How one structures the collaborative process is key to reaching "idea diversity".

I decided to test this out. At our last PD day our school made an enormous cultural shift. We had a very rich discussion that led to a vision of our school where everyone is now a teacher and a learner. This had been happening intermittently in other classes. Sheila Ashcroft-Shupe regularly has grade 8 students teach dance to younger students, our grade 4 teacher, Kelly Dunford has had her students teach a math lesson to another class. We have reading buddies. Teachers say that they learn a great deal from students, but there has never been a cultural norm where students and adults see ourselves as people learning together. This is new.

In light of that discussion I decided to give my students the task of teaching younger students how longitude and latitude works. I was not, however, prepared to teach longitude and latitude to my students. They would have to learn it on their own. Normally, I would put students into groups or have students self-select groups so that they could begin discussing the task. This time, I didn't do that. Students have no idea who their group members will be. First they must work individually to understand the topic so that when groups are finally formed each person will have information and ideas to bring to the table.

They had a few days to construct knowledge and on Friday we discussed the process. Students love the idea that everyone will be coming to the group with some level of understanding and will have something to contribute. They recognized that if they were in a group where someone already understood longitude and latitude, they would not have to bother to learn it. They also acknowledged that there was less socializing and time wasting because they were working on their own.

They did, however,  see a problem with efficiency. Having everyone learn the same information ahead of time is in some ways a waste of time. It would be beneficial to have different group members research different aspects of the problem and then share that knowledge with the group. When we come together next week, we'll see if we can discover a way to balance the need for individual processing and expediting that process.

Next week we will hold a Knowledge Building Circle. Students will share what they learned, build on each other's ideas and hopefully, clear up misconceptions. Only then will students move into groups so that they can begin planning how they will teach what they have learned to younger students.  To do that they will be using the Avocado Model. They will have to sift through the groups' information to identify essential information that they feel a grade 4 student should know about longitude and latitude.

This post has generated discussion on twitter. The video below came via Jared Bennett

Other links sent to add to the discussion.
From @brendasherry http://theconstructionzone.wordpress.com//?s=journal+zone
From @s3bertran the work on  information asymmetry by noble economist Joseph Stiglitz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stiglitz and his speech on learning societies. http://live.worldbank.org/conversation-joseph-stiglitz-president-obama-council-jobs-and-competitiveness

Inquiry Working Group

The Inquiry Working Group has met twice and is certainly evolving as I'd hoped it would.

1. Self-organizing and self-directed. While I have benefited from many in-services and formal learning events organized for me. I recognize the value of self-directed PD and the benefits that come from events such as Edcamp that bring diverse voices together to engage in open conversation and sharing of ideas and practice without the constraint of having to speak from one's position or role within a system.

2. Cross hierarachy - Breaking down the hierarchy was key. Better ideas and practices emerge when different levels within the system are present and engaged in discussion.

3. Cross-division - my hope was that primary, junior, intermediate and high school educators would be able to share points of view and practice so that we could develop a fuller understanding of the changes taking place at each level as well as gain insight into how divisions can help each other shift to student-centered learning.

4. Cross board - we are all educators. My hope was that public and separate educators would come together and that voices from the independent school system and home schoolers would join our conversation on inquiry-based learning. (This goal has been met in a very limited way - we have a few members from other boards within the public school system)

5. Limit size -Keep the group at 20 members because any larger than that makes the conversation unwieldy.


6. Create a new model for PD that is recognized and valued.  I am working on a badge system using available tools to formally recognize the learning that takes place within self-organizing systems. This is an exploration, not a goal.


Our group has met twice now. We are made up of teachers - junior, intermediate and high school -  several Student Success Coaches, 1 Principal and 1 VP and 1 consultant. We are cross board (yeah) and we have had two outstanding conversations and sharing of practices, challenges and ideas.

It was invaluable to hear administrators' questions and concerns on how to better support staff as we make this transition to inquiry.  Learning about the challenges unique to their positions within the system fosters empathy - a goal of 21 century fluencies. Their insights, gained from observing and supporting many teachers making the shift, provided a larger picture of the process we are currently under going.

It was invaluable to hear the challenges of Student Success Coaches who are just learning inquiry while having to support teachers making the transition to inquiry.

It was invaluable to hear how educators in other boards are making changes within their practice.

It was having a high school teacher present though, that stood out for me. I teach grade 7. I will be sending these students off to a system that I have experienced only as a parent of two children who have now moved on to post-secondary.

Things I learned:

1. High schools are just beginning the transition that elementary began 5 years ago and many educators are feeling the stress, confusion and uncertainty that we experienced when we began to shift practice.
2. The semester system is really not conducive to inquiry as content heavy curriculum makes teachers feel that they must "cover" content.
3. There are early adopters and resistors.
4. High schools have begun to notice that elementary is now sending them a different kind of student.
5. The mandate that all sections of a course must be the same is a barrier to inquiry.
6. Strategies and inquiry-based practices are being used in secondary.

I think high school teachers have a great deal to learn from elementary teachers who are farther along the road and I think elementary teachers have a great deal to learn from high school teachers who are tasked with preparing children for the post-secondary world. I hope this conversation expands beyond the Inquiry Working Group.

7. We have incredible teachers in our schools. Outstanding practices, ideas and strategies were shared that will now filter back into classrooms within our system.

Using Accountable Talk to Consolidate Knowledge and Identify Misconceptions

This post is part of a series from our grade 6 Mapping Inquiry

Post 1: How do you transfer a 3D form to a 2D space?http://www.heidisiwak.com/2013/10/class-61-begins-inquiry-world-cafe.html
Post 2: My Students "Invent" Topographic Maps http://www.heidisiwak.com/2013/10/mapping-as-problem-to-solve.html



Today we took time to:

1: Consolidate learning.
2. Use the language of the discipline to create a coherent explanation of the work we've been doing in mapping.
3. Identify misconceptions.

I used accountable talk as the entry point.

Students were given a sheet of vocabulary that we had been using as we activated schema, solved mapping problems and constructed knowledge by viewing videos of projections and exploring atlases.

Students worked in pairs, cut the words up and then built connections. They were required to speak in sentences using the vocabulary to explain mapping concepts. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to hear which students were confidently using the vocabulary in the right context, which students "kinda got it", which students were confused and which had misconceptions that needed to be corrected.

Finally, students worked individually to write explanations of mapping.

Causal Models Help Uncover Hidden Thoughts

One of the great struggles in teaching is getting students to think deeply.

My grade 7 students have been reading Ray Bradbury's All Summer in a Day. An idea that I wanted students to consider was responsibility  - who is actually responsible for the main character, Margot, being locked in a closet while the sun came out after 7 years of rain?

After listing as a class who they considered responsible:

the kids

the teacher

parents

scientists

the author

Margot herself

I distributed a Circle of Responsibility sheet and asked them to fill it it and explain their distribution of responsibility.

Most were completed looking something like this; it was very apparent that they had remained at a superficial level of thinking. This is a framework that encourages students to find reasons for their opinions, but does not ask them to think at a deeper level, nor to find connections between their justifications.

The next day we constructed a Causal Model of responsibility. A causal model is a tool that helps make thinking explicit. It breaks down the hidden layers and causes students to build connections between ideas.

After identifying the parents, for example, we ask why - Why would they bring Margot to a planet where it rains for 7 years? This led students into deeper thinking - was it a money issue? Were they looking for adventure? Had they been forced to come? What might cause them to seek that level of adventure? Why would they be so desperate for money? How are the scientists connected to their decision?

As students dig deeper into causality, they begin to link ideas and see how one aspect influences another.  It is a fun thinking task to engage in. I love how students enter into the play of generating and linking ideas. It's very freeing as a thinking tool. Most of all, students began to see that distributing responsibility for Margot's dilemma is actually quite complex, that determining responsibility for an injustice is not an easy task.

Mapping as a Problem to Solve

This is a follow up to this post - on mapping as inquiry.
http://www.heidisiwak.com/2013/10/class-61-begins-inquiry-world-cafe.html


Grade 6 students continued with their exploration of mapping and the challenge of transferring a 3D world to a 2D surface. After building models of the classroom that included the arched ceiling, students had to think about how to flatten the structure so that all aspects were showing. We observed and discussed how collapsing walls in certain directions would cause different outcomes - walls could turn into straight lines, parts of the room would be no longer visible. Deciding what to do with the ceiling was challenging because simply pushing it to the floor would cause a great deal to disappear.

 Eventually groups realized that the roof could be peeled backward and that collapsing all 4 walls outward would be an elegant solution to the problem.

Students realized, however,  that the walls would become disconnected which led to a discussion of distortion which brought us to the beach ball that had been sitting on my desk all week - a source of on-going speculation. Why was it there?

We reviewed the continents which I drew in marker on the ball and then, to the students surprise, I cut the ball.

Antarctica became stretched out, continents were cut open and the problem of what to do with the now open space became apparent. This astonished students. They realized that the maps they had come to accept as representing the world, were not accurate.


It was time to head to the internet and explore projections. Students were free to follow their interests within the boundaries of our topic to construct their knowledge.

In their reflections students commented on what surprised them and what they understood now about maps, that they didn't know before.

Our next mapping activity, was again presented as a problem for partners to solve. How can you represent the height of a mountain on a 2-Dimensional surface?  Students first had to figure out how to roll a rectangle into a cone - a surprisingly difficult task for some.

Once again I was fascinated by the depth and richness of discussion. It was accountable talk at its finest - all students engaged in focused conversation using higher level thinking skills to analyze and find a solution for a problem.  Their solutions were varied.

Birds Eye View

Once students found their solutions, 1 person from each partnership went to visit others to see how they had solved the problem. They then shared what they had seen.

Finally I introduced the term topographic map and sent them to the iPads to explore. Students were surprised to discover that map-makers used the same solution that the had come to independently. They entered into conversation about the lines and several realized that narrow distances between lines meant steep slopes and wide spaces meant gentler slopes.

Towards the end of class we gathered to confirm our new knowledge. One student volunteered to go to the board and explain how a topographic map works.

Other than providing a rich problem, tools for solving it and facilitating conversations, I did minimal direct instruction. It was a satisfying moment when the class realized that they had taught themselves.