Scooping sunshine

As teachers, a big part of our job is to plan learning activities and opportunities. In the old fashioned way of teaching, I would plan out a unit of study weeks in advance. I'd make up some worksheets and cute crafts for the children to assemble, and maybe teach them a game or song. In short, I was directing the learning on my terms...I was the expert and the children just had to do what I said to learn something.

But it's all different now. Katy and I have spent the last two years learning how to let go of this teacher-directed model and to embrace the children as active participants in the learning process. We are no longer fountains of wisdom. The children's learning happens from each other.

Our role is now as a facilitator and guide. We plan "provocations" - an object that is new and exciting that will spark curiosity- and introduce them to the class. Then we carefully watch and listen to see how the children interact with the provocation, and follow their lead. Sometimes this can take us in unexpected places! We learned this first hand back in the fall (click here), but it was illustrated for us again more recently.

Last week, I brought in some tadpoles that had just hatched at my local pond. I expected all sorts of joyful curiosity, such as we had with the butterflies and crickets. I expected them to spend hours watching, observing, recording.

 And they did. Many children went straight to the clipboards to write down what they saw.

But then serendipity struck. It was a glorious sunny day and the light was hitting the water in the tank just right. Someone noticed a shimmering on the ceiling. After some discussion they decided it was coming from the tadpoles.

Gavin: "Look it's a shadow! On the ceiling!"

Me: "Hmmm. Are you sure? Most shadows I've seen are black. That one is white"

Faith: "No, it's a reflection! A reflection from the water!"

What followed next was a flurry of excitement about the reflections. The children scrambled to find items in the room that would capture the sunlight and shine it on the ceiling or each other.

They taught each other how to harness the sunshine and direct it.

They even started recording their findings. They are such fantastic scientists!

In the afternoon, the children were disappointed to find the sunlight had disappeared. Even though the sun was shining outside, the earth had moved and the sun no longer shone in the window enough to make reflections. 

At that point, we brought out the overhead projector to continue the investigation.

They found that the mirror blocks we used for reflections couldn't catch the light on the overhead.

 It lead to some discussions about shadows and reflections, and the differences between them.

For the teachers, it is so very satisfying to watch these self-directed learners create their own opportunities. The learning was meaningful, in context, dynamic, and socially constructed. There is no substitute for this kind of learning!