Inquiry

All of the students in grades 1 and 2 are taking a different approach to inquiry this quarter. Since Mid-Pacific Institute is celebrating its 100th year in Manoa, all elementary students are conducting an inquiry with a focus on Manoa. All four grade 1 and 2 classes took a walk to a very special place on campus. Although we adults know it is an underground natural spring called Kawailele, we wanted to allow the children to sit, ponder, brainstorm,and come up with their own hypotheses of what this place was that we were visiting.

I began by asking the children,”What do you think this place is?” Thoughts ranged from " a pond" to "a lake" to "some sort of a pool." One child thought it was part of the sewer, and another that it was simply a giant puddle. One quiet girl chimed in and announced that it was, in fact, an underground spring because her mother told her so!

Once we all came to that conclusion, I then asked the children,”Where does the water come from?” Some of their thoughts included,“I think it comes from the ocean. It comes from the rain and it fills up! I think it’s connected to the sewer!” Finally, one observant boy stated, “I think it comes from the mountains and fills up this hole.”

We have all these great quotes, observations, and wonderings on videotape. We teachers have decided to document this inquiry by utilizing technology to create an i-movie of what we’re learning as a grade level instead of in individual classes.

Now that we think the water is coming to our campus from Manoa somehow, we are planning on taking a field trip to the back of Manoa Valley to do some hiking. We are waiting for Mr. Louie’s bus to return from its tune-up and paint job. As soon as that happens, I’ll let you know the date of our hike to Manoa Falls. We will be needing 3-4 parents to join us on the hike.

Posted on February 7, 2008 1:08 PM | Permalink