“Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange, teaching can strengthen learning how to learn.”

Loris Malaguzzi

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a classroom revolution

Use this guide to inspire and create a roadmap for your implementation of think about. Think of this as the launching point for creating co-learning experiences with materials that truly engage learners, but do not limit your vision to the examples provided. Become an OUT OF THE BOX thinker!

How to use this guide!

thin

k out

of t

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A GUIDE TO INQUIRY BASED INVESTIGATIONS WITH MATERIALS.

A child centered curriculum with interesting and rich materials engaging learners in a way that sparks initiative, creativity and motivation.

The Think About Experience promotes engagement, persistence, and motivation for your learners. The interactions offer both children and adults a wonderful path to enrich the learning process. Imagine the excitement as you open and teach out of the box. The materials create opportunities for learners to connect, promote and represent their learning in new and creative ways that fully capture their capacity. Each learner brings something to the process and is allowed to make their thinking visible. This scaffolding is critical, it allows for success and a recognition of prior knowledge and support of the continuous cycle of acquisition of knowledge from the world. This teaching method counters the idea that learners are blank slates, and celebrates as individuals explore, discover, and test their own ideas as they interact with others, objects, and

the environment. Simultaneously, the concepts and processes directly connect to your schools standards and outcomes. The learner brings their knowledge of concepts and experiences and the teacher builds upon them through inquiry processes and intentional facilitation of big ideas. The teacher and the student become co-learners. Edward J. Brantmeier states in Empowerment Pedagogy: Co-learning and Teacher, “I really enjoyed the concept of co-learning, especially how it changes the role sets of teachers and students from dispensers and receptacles of knowledge to joint sojourners on the quest for knowledge, understanding, and dare I say wisdom. Positioning oneself as a co- learner when teaching requires much unlearning of cultural conditioning because it challenges the traditional authoritative, dominant and subordinate role sets in schooling environments. In its ideal form, co- learning: acts toward student empowerment; it dismantles asymmetrical power relationships in the classroom; it builds a more genuine “community of practice”; and co- learning moves students and teachers toward dynamic and participatory engagement in creating a peaceful and sustainable world.

In this guide:What is in the box 2Aligns with your program 3Inquiry to empowerment 4-5Co-learning strategies 6Engagement 7Thinking Questions 8

a classroom revolution

www.think-about.be

Concepts Defined

Play, Passion, PurposeSupporting and encouraging undefined intentional play enables children to find their passion and develop their purpose.

Material ThinkingFlexible educational materials offer learners open ended processes over single outcome product experiences. The emphasis becomes an understanding of constructing, inventing, designing, and creating. Application and synthesis blend practices, an environment of inquiry and a research methodology.

Fostering InnovatorsEvery child has what it takes to become an innovator. Allow children time and place to explore, test ideas, fail and reflect on how to do it differently. Treat failure as positive in the class. A sense of not wanting to fail is killing children’s natural innovative capacities, as well as their sense of risk taking, problem solving creative thinking, and motivation.

Co-learnerIn order to see the child as a competent innovator who can engage in complex material thinking we as educators must take on a mindset that each child in your class has as much to teach you as you have to teach them.

EmpowermentBy recognizing children’s sense of self, by joining them as a learner, by fostering their individual creative capacities, by giving them space and time to explore processes of thinking. You will empower the children, the class, the community and yourself.

EngagementRedefines engagement as an immersion with an experience or a interactive flow so that the learner becomes lost in time and space. This high level of interaction with the materials creates a sense of success that motivates all learners.

Evolution to RevolutionThe idea of an education revolution is not new. Our method’s goal is to initially fit nicely within your current teaching style and yet change the way classroom’s foster children to become competent, self assured, creative thinkers, problem solvers and innovators!

What is in the box?The Materials A wide variety of tools and materials that allow for making associations, inspiring questions and spawning explorations. These materials create engagement and motivation for the co-learners.

REuse materials. 10% of the materials in each box are donated by REcircle- Creative REuse Center. The modes of use are redefined for these materials so that the learner engages in creative and original way of thinking

The Supports5 Recipe Cards designed specifically to promote inquiry. Brief idea prompts and open questions inspire the process of thinking with the materials. These are not prescribed outcomes or directions to a finished product, but are inspirational launching points with recommendations for additional materials readily available in most classroom or home environments The cards can support individual, small group or whole class explorations and material thinking.

12 Conversation cards incorporate photographs which inspire thinking towards the concept. These can be used before, during or after interaction with materials. A conversation card might create a dialogue around a new concept or idea, activate prior knowledge or prompt a reflection on prior experiences or material discoveries. As the facilitator the educator can use this discussion time to both plan the material exploration to come, assess the learning and engagement or, reflect and plan the next steps in order to help students reach a higher level of thinking.

The BooksWe have included a documentation journal in each box. This is a class journal, where each child or group of children and even can contribute. To begin with, it is the place where explorations are documented either in words, images, or photographs (preferably all three). After sometime it will also be a place where children can reflect back to ideas and explorations to remember, to become inspired and to expand their current material thinking. It is an amazing source for teachers to gauge the individual and class achievements and level of thinking throughout the process. The journal is an authentic documentation of learning incorporated in a wonderfully rich book of ideas, questions and thinking.

We have also provided recommendations to accompanying concept books. They might be picture books, but they could also be professional design, art, architecture, education or technology resources. Classrooms are filled with books created for children, but very rarely do children have a chance to be given a beautiful book that normally is reserved for adults. We believe strongly that in order for children to become innovators and develop creative and high level thinking it is important for them to have resources at hand just like any other individual exploring an idea of concept.

The ingredients of the box!1. Tools and creative materials

2. REuse materials

3. Recipe Cards x 5

4. Conversation Cards x12

5. Guide (for teachers & students)

6. Documentation Journal

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share ideas to help understand

Think about aligns with your current program

Any individual think about box can be integrated within universal educational standards, benchmarks,  indicators and across age levels. We have intentionally collected and organized materials and teaching supports that create and sustain participation and engagement for all learners. That is what is so unique about this curricular support. The teacher is the expert in the content, and the think about process can support the curriculum regardless of the specific material.

For example:The circles box can be used to intentionally create inquiry connected to a variety of content areas (e.g. mathematics, language, literacy, science, social studies, technology, the arts).

When we begin to watch children and listen to their interactions with the materials and each other we can scaffold and build experiences to strengthen connections to content.

We provide literacy supports to get you started by building upon your own prior experiences and considerations for new possibilities.

Circles can be about patterns in nature, function of tools, social relationships, life cycles. Connections are abundant and long reaching.

In fact, circles are far beyond an interesting label for a shape…they become an important concept about relationships.

We give you:✓Recipe cards to guide you as you introduce materials in a

variety of routines and groupings within your daily schedule

✓Thinking questions to foster imagination, create thinking habits, and visual awareness.

✓A collection of interesting materials so that you have what you need to immediately begin materials explorations.

We guide you with the think about process but recognize that for many it might not be linear or even cyclic as you fully develop your reflective and responsive strategies with learners. In fact you may choose to dig deeper into one or more processes or ping-pong between them. Regardless the inquiry process is a critical component of the think about approach that allows for pre-planned introductions of materials as well as intentional responsive interactions as learners engage in a individual or group process.

Play, Passion, PurposeWhen engaged in the think about process learners will:

View themselves as co-learners in the process of inquiry.

Accept an invitation to

learn and willingly

engage in the exploration

process.

Plan and carry out learning activities

Raise questions,

propose explanations

and use observations

Critique their learning practices

Communicate using a

variety of methods

Teacher’s role in Inquiry• Plans for active engagement for all.• Understands the skills, knowledge

and habits of mind needed for inquiry.

• Plans for ways to encourage and enable increasing responsibility.

• Prepares for unexpected questions or suggestions from the learner.

• Prepares the classroom environ- ment with the necessary tools, materials, and resources including time for active involvement and repeated interactions.

The Inquiry Processin the Think About program

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas.

engage To become deeply involved, to persist, to become lost in the moment. The spark of an interest of one’s own or offered by another. The

Inquiry Processin the Think About program

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas.

explore The discovery of attributes and properties of materials. The learner will collect, discover, notice and use all the senses to understand and make meaning.

The Inquiry Processin the Think About program

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas.

compose Putting together purposefully according to knowledge, ideas and/or experiences. The learner will sort, categorize and create order as they consider spatial relationships, direction and design. Compositions can be built, constructed in 2d or 3d and use materials and/or tools.

The Inquiry Processin the Think About program

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas.

converse Interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people. The learner engages in verbal and non- verbal conversations as they tell stories about and through the materials, the process, and the interactions. The language of the materials becomes primary to the actual spoken language of choice. Recall, retell and the invention of new theories and explanations create a dialogue between the materials and the learner and finally between the learner and the listener.

The Inquiry Processin the Think About program

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas.

document All actions that make learning visible. The learner will remember, create and express learning through drawing, sketches, painting, constructions, play, photos, film, computers, ipads, magazines, movement and dance. Reflection is an important part of the documentation process.

The Inquiry Processin the Think About program

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas.

present To inform, create a shared community with the audience. The learner will have opportunities to engage in planned and spontaneous presentations, both as part of the learning process and as celebrations of learning. Materials, books, visitors, field trips, time and space for in depth explorations and conversations build on prior knowledge and solidify new concepts and ideas.

The Inquiry Processin the Think About program

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas.

extend Relationships and connections are readily available and encouraged! Connections to other materials, concepts, units of study, processes are created through recall, retell and reconnect times. Artifacts and materials are re-invented as new discoveries, interests, and preferences unfold.

Elements of documentation include:•conducting careful observations•developing questions and tentative answers about how and what children are learning•collecting evidence of individual and group learning•interpreting observations &evidence in relation to your question(s)•inviting others' interpretationsusing the information to guide future teaching•starting all over again

Assessment and the Inquiry Process The think about processes and materials will support authentic observational assessments

in your classroom. The inquiry process includes planned or spontaneous opportunities for 1) engagement, 2) exploration, 3) composition, 4) conversations, 5) documentation, 6) presentations and 7) extensions. (table above) Within each of these seven processes authentic assessment opportunities are embedded. For example, as the learner composes (puts together a physical representation using the materials) the adult co-learner can observe and collect documentation using the learner’s words, images, work, actions and interactions. In addition to the process observations, we have identified critical foundational skills for all learners across content and ages ranges. The 5 Pairs of Big Ideas will target instruction and assessment opportunities as learners engage in various think about experiences. The adult co-learner can see, hear and document growth, development and progress across multiple learning domains or areas (e.g. mathematics, science, engineering, technology, language, literacy, written expression, motor and problem solving) or target one or more of the big ideas. Documentation can take many forms--observation notes, partial transcripts, audiotapes, a list of students' responses to a prompt, photographs or videos of individual and group experiences or actual compositions and presentations.

remember evaluate

analyseapplysparks provided by open ended questions

share ideas to help understand

5 pairs of Big Ideas

Co-learners will...Observe/ParticipateExplore/RecallCompare/ContrastExamine Cause/EffectCreate/Express

Observe is the activity of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, and/or the recording of data using technology or tools.Participation is to have an active role in an experience; or to share with someone or something.Exploration is one of three purposes of research. The other two being description and explanation (i.e. expression). Exploration is the attempt to develop an initial, rough understanding of some object, person, interaction or experience. Recall is a two-step process that initially involves determining relevance and then retrieving the experience from memory.Compare is to examine two or more objects, ideas, people, in order to note similarities; to consider or describe as similar. Contrast is to set in opposition, (e.g., opposite attributes, natures, or purposes); to show or emphasize differences. To compare and/or contrast, there must be a classification or a systematic placement of objects, ideas, or people into one or more categories. A relationship between the cause (e.g. actions or events) such that one or more responses (effect) are the result; an action or event will produce a certain response to the action in the form of another action or event.Create is to make or bring into existence something new. Expression when the learner uses a variety of formats for responding, demonstrating what is known, and for expressing ideas, feelings, and preferences. Through the use of resources, toys, and materials, expression addresses individual strengths, preferences, and abilities.

Think About instruction is defined as facilitation of the inquiry process and/or engaging in one or more of the 5 pairs of big ideas. Facilitation can include planned or spontaneous opportunities with one or more of the seven components of the inquiry process or the big ideas. There is a direct connection between the inquiry process skills and the 5 pairs of big ideas. Although they are featured as unique categories within the Think About curriculum, they are in fact inter-related and connected. Each component can be emphasized individually or as a collective. Watch the learner as he or she flows between the inquiry process and the big ideas with equally valuable outcomes

The teacher’s role initially involves strategies to capture the learner’s attention and build on the preferences and interests of individuals and groups. Observation, acknowledgement and description of learner actions and products build vocabulary and deepen comprehension. Suggestions from teachers and peers foster initiative and encourage flexible thinking. Modeling patience allows for thinking, investigating and conversations. Naturally occurring, spontaneous and planned discussions incorporate open ended questions, access to literature and dialogue. These conversations help learners to make connections, problem solve, reason and make predictions. All together a culture of co-learning and visible thinking is promoted and sustained by the teacher. You are a critical part of each child’s success and you can connect the materials to purposeful concepts, process skills, objectives and developmental goals or outcomes.

The Blooming Orange poster by Learning Today

Role Sets of Students and Teachers as Co-learners:Classroom relationships, & environments.

Student role--Empowered explorer: independent or collective explorer of knowledge through disciplined means. Practical assignments: interest-focused inquiry projects.

Teacher role-- Facilitator of learning : a facilitator doesn’t get in the way of learning by imposing information. A facilitator guides the process of student learning. Connecting student knowledge to other ideas or fields of knowledge; acting as an active support for learning endeavors.

Student roles—Meaning-maker and responsible knowledge constructer: one who engages in meaningful knowledge construction that promotes relevancy to her/his own life. Self-reflection is critical for this student role as a co- learner. Meaning- making, answering the question “so what?”

Teacher roles—Scaffold builder and critical reflection enhancer:one who assesses student knowledge and builds scaffolding to extend that knowledge to a broader and deeper understanding. Asking co-learners to reflect on what is being learned and the process of learning. Bridging students understanding to multiple contexts. Synthesize multiple ideas together from student responses Asking, “What are we learning about? How does this group’s ideas connect with that groups? (fostering substantive conversation and higher order thinking).”

(taken from)Empowerment Pedagogy: Co-learning and Teaching By Edward J. Brantmeier

Co-learnersCo-Learning Strategies: We value

several learning interactions: active learning, collaborative learning, and problem based learning. From these interactions we have identified instructional strategies. We have considered several taxonomies of thinking and learning as we identified categories of instructional strategies. What is unique about these strategies is that the learner and the facilitator equally initiate and use them. The materials promote learning strategies for co-learning! Imagine independent engaged individuals and groups that rely on their own personal learning strategies and those that are carefully selected by their co-learners to optimize the experience for all. These targeted strategies are focused to increase engagement and address a variety of thinking competencies.

Direct Instruction: use of tools, expectations for participation, support in displays, graphic organizers.

Experiential Learning: Sensory engagement, environmental supports, task analysis, new creation, offer choice, create a sabotage or provocation

Independent Learning: Problem solving, recall, retell, reflection, risk taking

Indirect Instruction: Observations, activate prior knowledge, use of visual supports

Interactive Instruction: Open-ended questioning, group discussions, retell with prompts or props, involve other experts or guests for interpretation, grouping considerations, interactive read aloud

Take off your teacher’s coat and put on the co-learner shirt!!

remember evaluate

analyseapplysparks provided by open ended questions

share ideas to help understand

Before you can see opportunities for creativity in your everyday curriculum you must first see

the child as a person, a free thinking being, with unique ideas and individual thoughts.

Engagement is a no-brainerIf you make the materials easily accessible and create an environment of:✓inquiry✓questions asking✓exploration

Where children feel free to:✓ follow their ideas✓play with their questions, ✓testing their answers✓reflecting on successes and failures

Getting the children to engage and learn with think about will be simple. With think about children become immersed with exploring the materials. Concentration and challenge are piqued as they observe, compare, contrast and investigate. Working with think about provide opportunities for children to show their mastery of the concepts presented in class. Engaged children love working with think about materials because they can tangibly explore, investigate and learn from it. Think about materials engage children to use thinking routines that challenges the way they think, explore and understand the materials around them.

Engagement looks like :4 Ideas that Inspire Us!

1. Engagement has FLOWMihaly Csikszentmihalyi, known for his study of happiness , creativity, and as the architect of the notion of flow defines flow as ‘the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”

2. Engagement has RIGORBarbara Blackburn (2008) defined rigor as:✓“Creating an environment in which each student is EXPECTED to learn at high levels- We believe that each child can do great things and possesses the potential to be his/her best.”✓“Each student is supported so that he or she can learn at high levels.” Think about materials provide the curriculum support to scaffold further learning.✓“Each student demonstrates learning at high levels. “Source: Blackburn, B. (2008). Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

3. Engagement is MEANINGFUL Children learn best when they are working on real-life experiences. Relevance is an important motivator for all ages.

4. Engagement makes THINKING VISIBLE. A culture rich in thinking routines, promote a better understanding of what children know and are learning.

engagement continued...The great thing about learning and thinking with materials is that they are readily available. During your explorations with a box encourage the children to add to the box, by bringing things from home. Objects, but also images, tickets, postcards and found objects from their lives outside of school. involve others create observe/ participate

problem solvingcompare/ contrast

There are two ways of being

creative. One can sing and dance.

Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.

-Warren Bennis

We are making big assumptions!We believe that children come to class FULL of knowledge and experts in a widerange of fields...

So if we believe this then how can we find out what they know? Testing? We believe the best way to do this and an amazing way to empower students is create an atmosphere where thinkingquestions are floating through the air both from educators and students.

To foster imagination, creative thinking habits and better visual awareness try to avoid questions that have only one correct answer. When asking thinking questions, try to avoid traditional test questions. Don’t try to assess their knowledge with questions, but try to draw out and encourage thinking. “Thinking Questions” are questions that allow a child to respond in greater depth – questions that encourage thinking. Typically, Thinking Questions cannot be answered in a single word.

What can you do to inspire thinking questions?6 ways to inspire creative thinking in your classroom.

1.Ask open ended questions that have more than one answer. Avoid yes-no questions.

2.Model good questioning and students will inevitably become good questioners.

3.Encourage students to break the pattern of safe answers and safe questions.

4.Ask students to search for alternatives answers, after one right answer has been found.

5.Provide provocations to show another way to look at it. This will encourages new combinations and connections.

6.Help students trust their ideas by figuring things out for themselves. Avoid giving the right answers to quickly which will lessen the students habit of running ideas past you in fear of failure.

capable

practiced

pro familiar

competent

dynamite

“It is not important what the teacher teaches.

What is important is what the learner learns.”

Bloom’s mixed with

thinking questions.Remembering who, what, where, when, how, which one, how much, what do you mean, can you recall, can you select, can you retell, what characters were in the story?

Understanding how would you compare or contrast, restate in your own words, ask which statements express, how would you summarize, what does this mean, is this the same as, which statements support, can you match, will you illustrate how the story unfolded, what part doesn’t fit, how can you show that?Applyinghow would you solve, what elements would you choose to change, how would you apply, what questions can you ask in an interview with, what would result if, how would you show your understanding of ?Analyzingwhat are the parts/features of, what’s your conclusion, which ones are facts, which ones are myths, what does the author believe, what is the theme, what is the motive, what ideas justify, what is the relationship between,what is the function ?

EvaluatingWhat would you recommend, how would you rank, how would you disprove, how would you justify, how would you compare, what was better, which is more important, which is more logical. which is more moral, find the errors, why do you think they did that, what choice would you have made, what would you prioritize?

Creatingcan you formulate a theory for, what changes would you make to solve, construct a model to, If I could I would, can you elaborate on the reason, what would happen if, what would be a good headline for ?

intellig

ent

alive

expert obse

rvant

perce

ptive

insightful

Think about circles in the classroom with a co-learning teacher

Thinking about circles was engaging in the classroom.  We were able to tie in books, like The Missing Piece Meets the Big O by Shel

Silverstein and Little Smudge by Lionel Le Neouanic.  The children made choices in the classroom related to circles: round objects to arrange in frames, circles to trace on a large piece of paper, and

circular objects to use with the overhead projector.  As teachers, we stepped in to point out “roundness” and “curviness” and “arches”, reinforcing the attributes of the circles, promoting new language to

associate with the objects.  

The children were so engaged because of the opportunities to compare and contrast, work with loose parts, and organize and sort.  

Our exploration of circles was meaningful for student engagement and thinking and creativity, but also for adult engagement and

observational practice: seeing and hearing what happens with these seemingly simple materials was fascinating.

And we only scratched the surface of the possibilities!

—Allie Pasquier (former prek teacher at the ISB, Brussels)

Scenarios

Here we discuss children’s natural creative capacities and the expertise they bring to any learning setting

Think about builds learner languages through:

1.The combination of diverse materials.

2.The respect for children’s abilities.

3.The belief in working with others.

These values increase the possibility of children developing and representing their own ideas, feelings, and thoughts about concepts as they engage with the materials and others.

The Think About RevolutionThe attributes of the materials, the acceptance of individual interests, preferences and prior knowledge combined with a masterfully observant

facilitator are core values of the classroom experience. These values increase the possibility of learners developing and

representing their own ideas, feelings and thoughts.

ANNABELLE

I LIKE TO WRITE AND ILLUSTRATE STORIES IN MY OWN JOURNALS AND THEN ACT THEM OUT. THE MATERIALS HELP ME THINK OF NEW ADVENTURES AND I BEGIN TO CREATE NEW CHARACTERS. I ESPECIALLY LIKE TO LOOK AT THE ART BOOKS AND SEE HOW THE ILLUSTRATORS USE PICTURES AND DRAWINGS TO TELL THEIR STORY.

JASON

I REALLY LIKE TO CONSTRUCT AND DECONSTRUCT USING THE MATERIALS. I WANT TO FIGURE OUT HOW THINGS WORK AND SEE IF I CAN MAKE NEW INVENTIONS FROM OLD PARTS. I LOVE THE RECYCLED PARTS IN THE BOX. SOME DAY I WANT TO BE AN ENGINEER OR AN ARCHITECT. I WILL DESIGN THE MOST AMAZING BUILDING.

JULIA ANN

I AM AN ARTIST AND A DANCER. I LIKE THE PAPER CIRCLES AND THE MARKERS AND ANYTHING THAT MOVES WHEN I DANCE. I LIKE TO MAKE BRIGHT DESIGNS AND I REALLY LIKE TO SEE THE PATTERNS IN THE MATERIALS AND THE PICTURES. SOME DAY I WILL BE A FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER OR PAINTER OR MAYBE DESIGN MY OWN DANCE COSTUMES.

Survey the children before, during and after you begin each experience. What are their special skills and talents. Assist then to create a learner profile that highlights their interests and preferences.Watch as they approach the materials and each other. Create the connections you observe initially in a concept map and continue to redefine as the materials thinking progresses.

Think about concept boxesLineStructuresTextureThink about Material boxesAirSoundLight

2013Under Development and releasing in

Let’s use the box!

You have a set of boxes in your class now what can you do with it. The first thing to realize is that even if you just allow the box to be part of a free choice experience, learning will happen! The main thing you need to do is to make the box available and foster an atmosphere of openness to take the box when the class time allows.

Other ways:1. Choose a box in relation to a unit or area of study you already had planned. (if you

choose a. from below you might not choose the box first)

2. Look through the box, play with it and imagine what the students will bring to the box. What questions might they have, what knowledge might they impart.

3. Create a mind map of your associations between the unit of inquiry and the box.

4. Choose to:a. Begin the class with an introduction of the unit, asking open ended questions,

create a mind map with the class about their knowledge of the concept and their questions.

b. Take the conversation cards out and lay them around the class to begin a dialogue about the concept.

c. Choose some recipe cards and create small groups of children to explore the card.d. Set up a small exploration with a few materials on a table and place a card there

saying “Think About....” Plan for small groups to go up and explore documenting their ideas.

A. Mind Map After doing the mind map, choose next steps, questions or explorations with the children. If you have already choosen a box go to one of the next steps (b. c. d.) If you have not then put the question to the children of which box might be the most interesting and bring the most associations to the track they decided to follow. Mind Mapping can lead to large group projects related to the thoughts coming from the ideas.

B. Conversation Cards This can lead to similar discoveries like the mind mapping, but will be more story focused as well as be more prone to small group work and collaborative explorations. Be open to allow the conversation to flow in different directions.

C. Recipe Cards Normally recipe cards are used in the middle of a unit to get students to thinking even farther out of the box or giving a creative boost. They are also nice for when the student or small group use the box as free choice or self-initiated study.

D. Small Group Explorations are wonderful to have set up throughout the entire duration of the unit of inquiry. These are the best way to see students demonstrating and sharing previous knowledge, reflecting on a theory or idea, retesting a unknown concept or thought and presenting learning towards the end.

“We should remember that there is no creativity in the child if there is no creativity in the adult: the competent and creative child exists if there is a competent

and creative adult."

(Rinaldi, p120, In Dialogue With Reggio Emilia)

www.think-about.be

a classroom revolution