Connecting the Elementary Toolkit to Models of Thinking

by Amy Hoffman

As a graduate student at Teachers College, Columbia University, I recently completed a course that  encompassed research-based theories on student thinking and learning. I was intrigued by the content matter and found myself reflecting on the elementary toolkit activities through the lens of a landscape of thinking skills. In case you are not familiar with the Elementary GoodWork Toolkit, it is a set of activities based on the original GoodWork Toolkit to introduce elementary-age students to GoodWork concepts. There are connections between models of thinking and Good Work:  when creating curriculum for young students, it is essential to give them opportunities to explore their thinking and learning and to self-reflect on a deep level about their learning processes.

In this blog entry, I explore the connections between visuospatial thinking and word mapping activities.  In my classroom, students use word mapping activities to research definitions and meanings for each of the 3 E’s and then construct a word web of their understanding. According to the organization Reading Rockets, “a word map is a visual organizer that promotes vocabulary development” (Reading Rockets, 2012). Word maps are used in classrooms to assist students in understanding abstract words and concepts. The use of word mapping in this activity allows students to construct a “spatial mental” model of the content being presented (Hegarty, Stull 2012). For students first encountering a complex concept such as Good Work, visuospatial thinking provides a means for grasping the concept that is accessible and age-appropriate for students.

Most recently, the students in my classroom engaged in a word mapping activity to help them further explore their understandings of Good Work terminology. I was able to develop a webquest (http://questgarden.com/146/51/5/120716111216/) for student use and to assist in keeping a structured eye on the content being searched. The webquest and modeling led the students to work in small groups to research multiple definitions of excellence, ethics and engagement and jot down notes of their thoughts surrounding what they were discovering. From there, the small groups of students were asked to turn their thoughts into word maps- creating a visual representation of their thoughts- the goal being a series of connected words surrounding each one of the 3E’s. Below is an example of a student’s word map:

In this example, when these young students were faced with the task of creating their own thoughts surrounding these complex ideas, they were at first apprehensive. For many, this was their first independent experience with exploring a concept using the Internet. Through continued discussion during the activity, I supported their research by guiding questions, “Can you make a personal connection to words?” “Are there any group members that have a different connection?”  Students were given the opportunity to discuss their experiences and explorations with each other, they were able to learn about multiple perspectives and eventually, they moved beyond their initial hesitations. At this young age, the students have had success in constructing meanings through guided partnership discussion and activities. The students have been able to find clear connections between themselves and others, discuss the meaning of true social and academic success, and begin to become excited about their future possibilities.

Visuospatial thinking skills are an essential part of a young child’s development. In giving students the opportunity to work on this development through discussion and activities, students are able to utilize their creative thinking to construct meaning of vocabulary as related to Good Work. I am looking forward to providing students with subsequent activities to enhance their thinking skills and to continue to make connections to Good Project ideas.

References

Frederiksen N., (1984). Implications of Cognitive Theory of Instruction in Problem

Solving. Review of Educational Research. 54 (3), pp.363-407.

Hegarty, M., & Stull, A., (2012). ‘Visuospatial Reasoning’. In: Holyoak, K., & Morrison, R. (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.606 – 630.

Marzano, Robert J. (1998). A theory-based meta-analysis of research on

instruction. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Educational Research Laboratory. Retrieved June 28, 2013, from http://www.mcrel.org/PDF/Instruction/5982RR_InstructionMeta_Analysis.pdf

Young Children Exploring the 3 Es (Three Part Series): Part One – What’s happening in the classroom?

by Jo Hoffman

Since June of 2011, my daughter Amy and I have been working with the GoodWork Toolkit team to adapt some of the Toolkit activities so that they would be appropriate for children who are six to eight years old—the ages of the students in my daughter Amy’s 1st and 2nd grade multiage class.  Encouraged by Lynn, Wendy, and Margot and collaborating with me, Amy wrote curriculum activities for each of the 3 Es.  She is in her second year of incorporating Toolkit activities into her unit on citizenship in the community, and through writing units that focused on narratives and self-expression.  Together we are looking for evidence of development in the children’s thinking about the concepts of the 3 Es.  Amy has collected work samples, photos, and audio recordings from her young learners that are the result of many, many concrete experiences exploring the concepts of the 3 Es.

Amy has begun each school year with conversations about GoodWork. (Amy and her students describe activities involving the 3Es as GoodWork time.)  She embarked on exploration of each of the 3Es with essential questions and discussion designed to introduce her students to the concepts surrounding the “E” to be explored.  To gauge children’s initial understandings and as a pre-assessment, a word list is created via class discussion/brainstorming of all the meanings they have for the “E” being investigated.  Amy offers an age-appropriate definition for them and then encourages the class to develop their own definitions too over the course of the days of related experiences.  As an example, the definition she uses to introduce ethics is:  Ethics is what you believe makes you a good friend, brother or sister, or classmate.  Ethics is being with others and respecting whoever you’re with so that everyone is working together in a happy way to get things done.  One of her students developed this definition for ethics after several days of related activities:  “Ethics is having confidence in yourself to make smart choices.”  Other activities within the 3 or 4 days of initial focus on each of the Es included narratives and student responses, word mapping, webquests and the value sort activity using technology, and other developmentally appropriate related activities.  For instance, an activity to explore Engagement is for children to reflect on the things that they like to do and think they are good at doing, developing trading cards with pictures and writing about their “expertise.” Then working with a partner, they trade cards and think of ways that they can help one another in their class community using something they are good at doing.

Amy has been doing a great job documenting the activities and discussions surrounding the 3Es.  It is fascinating to listen to audio recordings of the students in their class discussions about GoodWork and in looking at the photos that Amy has taken of their word maps and word sorts.   Her 1st and 2nd graders’ responses and participation vary, as even young learners bring a variety of prior experiences and understandings to the ‘table’.  Listening in on a class discussion, we hear students’ initial perceptions of What is GoodWork?  For example, GoodWork is: “getting better at something, trying new things,” trying and trying and not giving up.”  In a class conversation about Engagement, we hear some insightful early thoughts from her students to the prompt – It’s important to like what you’re learning about because:  “it helps you get better at stuff,”” it makes it fun,” “it makes you try harder”.  The discussion deepens their understandings as they interact with one another and compare their ideas.  Amy guides them to expand their beginning understandings by partnering them to tackle an online word mapping activity, adding higher level and more descriptive vocabulary.

After this September and October’s GoodWork activities, the students came up with the initial idea to do something “good” for someone or some group.  Through class discussions and ideas about what to do and for whom, it was decided to do a school-wide read-a-thon to raise money for a yet-to-be determined school in Nepal working with an organization that could help deliver school supplies.  Not long after, Superstorm Sandy hit NJ and when they finally had school again 10 days later, Amy and her students decided that due to widespread damage and devastation, there would be people and schools needing money for supplies right in their own state. Since Amy is always seeking ideas to keep the GoodWork conversation alive throughout the school year, she’ll be using short video clips that resonate with the 3Es for her students to respond to after the holidays.  The spring brings the final activity where students write their own GoodWork narratives.  Last year’s work samples were intriguing.  Here’s an example that two students wrote together:

Bob and Mary are building a wind farm.  James could not build a wind farm by himself, but he wanted to.  He said, I cannot do this.  Upon hearing James’s frustration, a girl names Starr told him they could make a wind farm together!  So, they got some stuff to make it and then they made even more.  They still put on long wires, next they put on the long tube, they also put blades and then it looked awesome and they were happy.  Then they decided they would make even more windmills so they got to work and did the same thing.  Finally, they connected the bird baths to the windmills and the water went from one side to another!

The examples of students’ words and work I’ve included here are part of the growing body of evidence that there has been development in the children’s thinking and understanding of excellence, ethics, and engagement.  They seem to be discovering the variety of meanings that the concepts of the Toolkit embrace. There are still more questions to answer, such as what additional activities could be planned for expanding their learning?  Mid-way through year two of young children exploring the 3Es, we will continue to examine the student work samples for more outcomes and indicators — evidence that investigating the concepts of the Toolkit has had a positive effect.  I look forward to sharing our findings – more to come!