Overview

University Primary School

October – December 2000

Beginning the Project

The University of Illinois is constructing a new research center not far from University Primary School. Children see construction every day as they drive to school and ride around the town to the library, recreational programs, or do other errands with their parents. They also take walking field trips to visit people and buildings around the school. Construction was part of their every day experience. The first phase of a project is designed to uncover what the children already know about a topic. The Head Teacher began the project by sharing stories and pictures of her husband repairing the barn on her farm. The teacher created opportunities for students to share their understandings with others. The children shared many stories about seeing things built on their house or in their neighborhood. They chose ways to represent what they already knew. They drew and painted buildings under construction. They also made 3-dimensional models of construction using clay, legos, blocks, sand, rods, boxes and junk, and paper. The teacher and class brainstormed words associated with construction that were categorized to form a web. The children raised questions that they wanted to find out about construction. The teachers and students categorized their questions and reformulated them to form small study groups.

Questions that gave direction to Phase 2 of the project included:

Developing the Project

To answer their questions, the children engaged in field studies. They took walking trips to three neighboring construction sites. They invited experts into the class to answer their questions. Visitors included a parent who repairs his home, three undergraduate engineering students, and a parent who was an architect. Before each trip, students predicted what they might find. During field studies the children collected data by making observational drawings, collecting artifacts, taking photographs and videotape records, and writing answers to their questions that were answered by the experts.

Seeking Answers from the Experts

Writing opportunities included note taking, experience stories, letters, poems, books and writing captions to photographs or drawings. Children formulated many surveys and organized data into tally charts and graphs. In addition, they created part to whole charts and discussed and drew the building cycle. Many discussions occurred in whole group meetings where the children could listen, question, comment and enjoy each other's work. The conversations and interactions helped children gain new understandings about construction.

Concluding the Project

The children invited their parents and families to the Winter Open House to share their new understandings and findings about construction. The teachers discussed with the students, "What was important about the study of construction?" Themes emerged. The children wrote a song and prepared speeches. Groups of children signed up to draw and color a mural. Other children decided to represent their findings by making models. One group created a large model of a nearby building (out of a large cardboard box).

Creating the Representation of the Building

Other children worked for many days to create large models of a crane and a dump truck. The teachers created a questionnaire for parents to ascertain how much their children carried over their findings from school to home. Much excitement surrounded the afternoon as the class celebrated their learning with their families.

What did the Children Learn?

Through the in-depth study of construction, the children were encouraged to relive, review and remember their experiences with construction. The children strengthened their disposition to observe construction more closely. They became more skillful in representing construction in their drawings and used a variety of media. They gained knowledge of the sequence of constructing a building..

Reporting the Sequence of Building

They were still concerned about the relationship between construction, buildings, and the environment. One child noted that plants needed to be moved to different locations and another child voiced concern that construction workers did not care about plants. They verbalized predictions and hypotheses and became familiar with conducting investigations that answered their questions about construction. The children listened to each other, and learned how to appreciate others’ ideas, articulate disagreements, and pose questions for clarification. They became more skillful in framing questions and using construction terminology in conversation. They distinguished between cement and concrete, bulldozers, cranes, and back hoes. They used new vocabulary words such as booms, cables, and ball peen hammers. They became more familiar with organizing data with graphic organizers. They applied problem-solving skills and mathematical and critical thinking as they created models to represent actual buildings or machines. They gained an appreciation for the complexity and depth of what appeared to be a familiar topic to them. They came out of the study with even more detailed questions that they wanted to pursue. Their disposition to inquire was strengthened.