2008-10-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

During a recent trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the students of College Park Elementary School experienced and witnessed a balloon race. Although the field trip dealt primarily with attending the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum, the students found the balloon race interesting and on the bus ride home the students talked at length about the balloon race. One student mentioned, “ I wonder how far the balloon’s can travel?” Another student said, “ What makes the balloons rise into the air?” While the students were engaged in their conversations about balloons, another teacher and I were attentively listening to this unique dialogue between the students. Once we arrived back to school, Mrs. Smith and I shared our experiences with the other teachers at College Park Elementary School. (P4) As a group we collaborated on past inquiry projects, but we saw this project being a special inquiry project that would allow teachers, guests, technology, and individuals from the community to be part of the learning experience. (P3) After researching and talking with the fellow teachers of College Park Elementary School, we created a comprehensive inquiry project.

Pike Township, recently implemented a plan that has been seen by other districts as a proactive move into the 21st century education. As a group, we took into consideration the diverse student body at College Park Elementary School. (P7) Connecting different disciplines will give the students a more rounded education, which will foster creative thinking in their future and current courses. (P2) During the planning phase, Mrs. Smith, the media specialist, and art teacher consulted other Pike Township Schools. They each shared information on what steps they should do, in order to implement an inquiry project of this type into their curriculum. After researching, the collaborative team at College Park Elementary School thought it was best to have Mrs. Smith introduce the inquiry project. They came to this decision because the students would view their classroom as the “Balloon Lab” and would be the main place where data is recorded and analyzed. However, the students knew, based on their past inquiry projects, the media center would serve as a place to develop and increase their knowledge about the inquiry project the are working on. (P5)

The inquiry project was introduced in Mrs. Smith’s third grade class. We felt this was the best approach because her classroom was renamed the “Balloon Lab” and gave her students the opportunity to ask questions at the beginning/ middle/ end of the inquiry project. At the beginning of the inquiry process the students were required to fill out a KWL chart. (K4) By having the students fill out the KWL chart, we could analyze the results as a group and see what the students knew, as well as wanted to know.

The media center served as the integral part of the unit and provided the students the research, literature, and concepts to help them understand the inquiry project. Posters of state standards and the curriculum are posted throughout the media center as a way to help the students see and understand their goals as a student. The posters help the students comprehend their role in the inquiry process and why it’s important to become a lifelong learner (P1) The media specialist introduced a number of books about balloons; Hot-Air Henry by Mary Calhoun, The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss, and The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene DuBois. (P6) The inquiry project and the books in the media center help the students learn a number of concepts related to weather, writing, teamwork, art design, and exploration. (K9) Students were given the opportunity to research the information in the media center as a group of two or individually. (P8) Websites that dealt with weather and exploration were introduced to the class. The sites helped the students understand wind patterns as well as the concept of exploration. They read stories of individuals putting notes into bottles and setting them free in the ocean. The inquiry project and websites help them pretend they are perhaps lost at sea in the hopes someone will receive their note far away. (K6)

MAIN CONCEPT
The inquiry project has the students write letters that would explain what school they go to and what inquiry project they are working on. Once the students learn the fundamental aspects of writing a letter, they were given the opportunity to write their letter. Once the letter was written, the students could design their own balloon. Students were given Sharpie pens of various colors. On the balloons, they wrote their names, the school’s name, or their favorite sports team. Once the first two steps were completed, the students filled their balloons up with helium and then with the help of the media specialist, art teacher, and Mrs. Smith the students inserted their letter into the balloon and tied a string to the balloon. During recess, the students were given the opportunity to release their balloons into the sky, in the hopes that someone far away would write back or join the class wiki. A wiki was created for those individuals who found the balloon’s letter and the wiki allowed the receiver the opportunity to respond to the class. (K2) Once a letter was received back from the individual who discovered the balloons, a message could be posted on the class wiki. In the media center, Google Maps was displayed on the SMART Board and this gave the students the opportunity to see how far their balloons traveled. (P9)

After the balloons were released we had a local weatherman come to our class and talk about weather and how it would affect the direction the balloons traveled. (P10) Not only would the students find this interesting, but we could develop a relationship with this individual and we could incorporate his knowledge in future inquiry projects. The students were given the opportunity to ask Mr. Weather questions about weather and how far their balloons might travel. (K5) Tim asked, “Do you think the balloons would travel East, West, North, or South”? Another question that was mentioned was, “How far do you think the balloons might travel?” The students found Mr. Weather to be an interesting person who provided them excellent information that they added to their inquiry process. (K7)

The collaboration between the art teacher, media specialist, and the classroom teacher, Mrs. Smith, was one of strongest collaborative efforts ever implemented at College Park Elementary School. (K1) During the inquiry project, discussions, outcomes, suggestions, and mistakes were all recorded into an online learning environment. We used Google Pages as a way to organize and monitor our inquiry project. (K3) Mrs. Smith, who recently graduated from Indiana University, brought a number of innovative ideas to the group. During her student teaching experience, her mentor teacher had his student’s record information in a journal, which elaborated on what they were currently learning or what they would like to learn about in class. (K8) During the inquiry process, the members of the collaborative group read the student’s journals. Concepts emerged from having the students write in their journals and more importantly those concepts were shared as a class and implemented into the unit. (K2)

At the conclusion of the project, we had nearly 20 responses from our inquiry project. The students were amazed by how far some of the balloons traveled. We had one balloon that traveled more than 100 miles. A number of balloons were found in Richmond, Indiana that suggested to the students that there was a strong southeast wind the day we launch the balloons. After looking back at the data, the students learned there was a southeast wind of 20 mph the day the balloons were released from College Park Elementary School. (K10)

The collaborative team is already planning our second “Balloon Lab” mission. The information gained through the first inquiry project will be implemented in future inquiry projects. (K9) We believe a lot can be learned from past inquiry projects by observing the students and reading their journals. As teachers, we learned a lot about ourselves and we grew as a group during the inquiry process. We felt as if we had a truly unique inquiry process and the inquiry will be a fundamental building block for our future inquiry projects at College Park Elementary School.

KEY ISSUES
Key Issue 1 – Collaboration; “Individuals working together for a common goal, “working with others” (Callison & Preddy, 2006, p.322)
The 3 teachers worked as a group and they each provided excellent input into the inquiry process.

Key Issue 2 – Technology; (Stripling & Hughes-Hassell, 2003, p. 178)
A class wiki was created to monitor their inquiry process and track the distance the balloons traveled.

Key Issue 3 – Knowledge Management; “The transmission of knowledge is never pure, a teacher’s personal context is always different from that of the student.”
The group used Google Pages to monitor student learning as well as document what aspects of the project went well or bad.

Key Issue 4 - KWL; “ Organizer helps students activate prior knowledge, spur questioning, and identify sources and keywords to guide searches.” (Rosenfeld & Loertscher, 2007, p 61)
The KWL chart would help the students come up with questions and would help the teachers incorporate concepts the students wanted to learn about.

Key Issue 5 – Interview; “ Tool used in the inquiry process to gain information that will help clarify and add meaning.” (Callison & Preddy, 2006, p. 408)
Having the opportunity to ask Mr. Weather questions about their inquiry project stimulated more questionings as well as clarified some prior questions.

Key Issue 6 – Online Learning; “Technology connections allow learners to apply the information literacy standards for student learning and to participate in a community of learners that spans the globe.” (Information Power, 1998, p. 130)
Students were allowed to access the Internet for information on weather patterns and other beneficial information that dealt with exploration.

Key Issue 7 – Questioning; “Without questions, the inquiry cycle stops” (Callison & Preddy, 2006, p.502)
The students not only questioned Mr. Weather but also recorded their questions in their journals.

Key Issue 8 – Student Journals; “Method to help students record and reflect on their information search process” (Callison & Preddy, 2006, p. 538)
The students wrote in their journals about their inquiry process

Key Issue 9 – Analysis; “Analysis involves both determining the meaning of an argument and determining the quality of the construction of the argument.” (Callison & Preddy, 2006, p.276)
Student journals were analyzed during and after the inquiry process.

Key Issue 10 - Problem Solving; “ Students pose questions and seek information not to become literate on a topic but to solve a problem or resolve an issue.” (1998, p.59)
The students poised questions to each other at the end of the inquiry process and the collaborated with each other to help figure out the answer.

PRINCIPLE’S
Principle 1 – The library media program is essential to learning and teaching and must be fully integrated into the curriculum to promote students’ achievement of learning goals.
The media center is the backbone of the inquiry project; state standards and the school’s curriculum goals were integrated into the unit

Principle 2 – The information literacy standards for student learning are integral to the content and objectives of the school’s curriculum.
Pike Township implemented a proactive plan to get all of the teachers working collaboratively on inquiry projects that stresses state standards.

Principle 3 – The library media program models and promotes collaborative planning and curriculum development.
On past projects, a number of teachers collaborated on inquiry projects with the media specialist, his knowledge of curriculum connections made it a win/win situation.

Principle 4 – A the library medium program models and promotes creative, effective, and collaborative teaching.
We shared our experiences with the other teachers of College Park Elementary School because it would serve as a starting point for our collaborative inquiry project

Principle 5 – Access to the full range of information resources and services through the library media program is fundamental to learning.
The media center has a wealth of information that will help the students make connections to the inquiry project; books, magazines, Internet

Principle 6 – The library media program supports the learning of all students in reading, viewing, and listening for understanding and enjoyment.
Books are made available during their specials time, these books are reserved for Mrs. Smith’s class and can be read and viewed by her students.

Principle 7 – The library media program supports the learning of all students and other members of the learning community who have diverse learning abilities, styles, and needs.
By understanding our students individual learning styles, we created the inquiry project, which would help all students learn at their own pace.

Principle 8 – The library media program fosters individual and collaborative inquiry.
Resources are available for the students during specials. The sources can be read or viewed as a group or individually.

Principle 9 –The library media program integrates the uses of technology for learning and teaching.
The use of the SMART Board gives the students the opportunity to see the distance traveled in relation to the starting point of the balloon. Puts in into a perspective that the students would understand.

Principle 10 – The library media program is an essential link to the larger learning community.
By inviting in a member of the community, the expert would not help the students with their questions, but would serve as a source on future projects.

SOURCES:
Stripling, Barbara K. & Hughes-Hassell, Sandra, Curriculum Connections Through The Library. Westport, Connecticut. Libraries Unlimited. 2003

Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Washington, D.C.: American Library Association, 1998.

Doll, Carol A. Collaboration and The School Library Media Specialist. Maryland: Lanham, 2005.

Rosenfeld, Esther & Loertscher, David V. Toward a 21st-Century School Library Media Program. The Scarecrow Press Inc., Lanham, Maryland. 2007.

Callison, Daniel and Leslie Preddy. (2006). The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy. Libraries Unlimited.

Innovative Ideas on The Horizon