Phase 1


Large group meeting discussing problems
children were having on the playground.

Teachers began the project by brainstorming the learning possibilities that might arise from studying communication. Together they generated a concept map (Teachers’ Topic Web) that included activities across disciplines, big ideas, experts in related fields of study, resources, required curricular objectives, and basic skills. For the communication project, the teacher determined this broad topic which narrowed after the children had an opportunity to brainstorm their ideas.

This project began when the children came to a group meeting wanting to discuss problems after a recess on the playground. The teacher thanked the children for their efforts in communicating and for helping to solve the problem. The discussion continued:

Teacher: You did a good job of communicating. Communication seems like a good topic for our new project. How were you communicating?
CS: That’s the word on the board. (He points to the board and spells c-o-n-s-t-r-u-c-t-i-o-n.)
Teacher: So you think communication is the same as construction.
CS: Well, it starts with a C.
LM: I think it means electric things.
JM: Yeah.
JF: I don’t know what communication is.
Teacher: Yes, MA.
MA: I forgot.
WJ: I think it’s when you want to talk to a fish. You know, when you say something and they talk back.
CM: That’s what I was going to say.
AH: I think you send a message. And you do that by writing on people’s hand they feel it. Helen Keller did it.
CM: I think it’s miming.
JP: Sometimes people are blind and they read with bumps.
CS: Or you can go to sleep and write on their hand and they know what the message is when they wake up.

The children brainstormed their ideas about communication, in order to capture their current level of understanding and knowledge of construction. The teacher wrote the ideas on ‘post-it’ notes. On the next day, each child revisited his/her ideas, explained them further and noted the similarities of their ideas. The students grouped similar responses into categories. Students used analytical thinking when explaining how they wanted their ideas categorized. These discussions revealed current concepts, understandings and misunderstandings that became opportunities for growth and learning. Communication Topic Web I shows the finalized decisions.

In a whole group meeting, the teachers shared stories to encourage students to think about their previous experiences with communication. The Head Teacher shared a time when she had laryngitis and had to communicate with body language and facial expressions. The Assistant Teacher shared a story about a time when her car broke down and she had to use her cell phone to call for help. She also showed the older cell phone that she had used. A lot of children had experiences with cell phones and they shared some of those stories.

The next day, the teacher asked if they had thought of a story. Some children insisted that they had never communicated and therefore didn’t have any experiences to share. Others drew and wrote about their personal experiences.
MA's recollection of a time that he
talked on the telephone.
          
CM described when he communicated with a
walkie-talkie.

They categorized their stories to establish a common ground. The following conversation occurred during the sorting process.

AK: I drew a picture and the main part is talking.
CM: Everybody has talking in their picture, so you can’t sort with that.
AK: I drew a computer…
WJ: You can’t talk on the computer. You type then you send a letter.
AK: I’m communicating. Look, there’s a telephone on the computer. I clicked a few places to get there. I typed my telephone number. Then press a button, then it dials.
Teacher: So do you think your picture should be categorized with the telephone group or the computer group?
AK: The main thing is…Well. I’ll think about it.
JH: I drew a picture where I told my sister to get out of the mud. The picture should go with JB because I’m using my mouth, too.
CS: My picture should go with JH and JB’s because I’m talking to my dad.
LM: I’m communicating with a robot. I have a red shirt on. I used colors to communicate. I’m not communicating by telephone,…or computer,…not talking. I’ll start a new group-a color group.
WJ: I’m communicating by the TV. It should go with the computer group.
Teacher: Can you send a message to someone with the TV like you can a computer?
WJ: Yes, there is a pink cord on the computer. If I blow in it, the guy doing cartoons will feel it and know to change the cartoon.
CS: You can send a message to the TV with a remote and you can change channels and turn it on and off.
Teacher: Can you change channels on the computer?
NC: No, but if the computer has a DVD you can show movies like you can on the TV.
AK: I’ve decided to put my picture with the computer group. The main thing in my picture is computer not telephone.

The children formed discussion groups using the categories that they named during the sorting of their communication stories. The names given to each category were the following: sending messages with computers, sending messages by mouth, sending messages with books, sending messages with color, sending messages with telephones and walkie-talkies.


A small discussion group recording their
thoughts about the advantages of using a
walkie-talkie as a communication device.

In the discussion groups they talked about the advantages and disadvantages of their category. They articulated how their communication device worked. These discussions helped children develop a fuller understanding of their experiences. The sending messages with books reported the following:

KK: You have to read a book to communicate.
JF: You look at the words and you tell the story. And you look at the pictures.
NO: I don’t look at the words, because I already know them. If I forget the words then I look at them up.

The children answered the question, “Can you send a message to a book?”

KK: Yes, but you may not know how to read the book.
NO: Your brother might not hear you. A book can hear you. A book has little holes in the paper and the book hears with those holes. And it has a little mouth.
KK: I’ve never seen it. I don’t think a book can hear your message.

Another group discussed the telephone, “ How did you communicate by using a telephone?”

AH : How I communicated is when I need my mom I use the telephone. My voice goes into a wave and gets to my mom.
CM: The walkie-talkie the invisible electric waves.
ER: It went through the electric waves.
AK : The computer wire attaches to microphone wire and once it attaches it becomes one wire. Then it attaches to the person I'm talking with. Then the wire attaches to the persons' telephone. Then come vibrations and I hear them.
JM: When my dad is gone and when I am in the car I can call my dad. This is an underwater wire.
JP: It went through the wires.

“What's good about sending a message by telephone?”

AH: You can talk to the other person.
JJ: That you can call people.
AK: You feel safe because you can call 911.
MA: It’s a faster way to call people.
JP: Its sometimes fun.

“What's not good about sending a message by telephone?”

AH; It is not clear as you are talking to a person next to you.
AK : Some times you get disconnected from the person you are talking to.
JW: The phone could brake.
JJ: If the phone breaks and you can't talk to that person

They chose ways to represent what they already knew. They developed surveys and asked their classmates the following questions:

EA: Has your grandma read you a book to send a message?
SL: Have you played a computer game to send a message?
WJ: Can you blow into a wire on your TV and send a message?
LM: Can a robot hear a message by your wearing a red shirt?
JP: Has your telephone ever broken while you were talking?
CM: Can you read?
NO: Do you think books get a message with little holes in the paper?
JN: Do you have a walkie-talkie?
HB: Have you read your Dad’s book to send a message?
ER: Have you ever talked on a walkie-talkie?
KS: Have you ever talked to a brother or sister?
SJ: Have you ever mailed email?
CS: Have you ever talked to your grandmother and grandfather?
AH: Do you think phones are or aren’t clear?
NC: Have you ever emailed on a computer?
CM: Have you used a long way walkie-talkie?

EA found that the number of people who
had and who had not sent email was equal.

After collecting the data, they analyzed it, drew conclusions and communicated the results to the teacher. They also drew and painted themselves communicating. They made 3-dimensional models of communication devices with clay, Legos and boxes and junk.


AK making a clay representation of a telephone that she remembered.

When the children shared their experience stories, surveyed classmates, and recalled their memories, discussion and disagreement arose. Children raised many questions out of these debates.


The telephone group is reporting the advantages
and disadvantages of using a telephone.

Teachers recorded “wonderings” as the children expressed them. The teachers categorized their questions and reformulated them to form small study groups. Some reformulated questions were “big ideas” and suggested complexity for investigation and other questions were researchable for children and gave direction to Phase 2 of the project.

Big Idea and Researchable Questions

What is communication and what are the ways to do it?

BG: Which communication is the best – talking or telephone?
JF: How do babies get to talk when they’re little?
CS: How do you communicate with helicopters?
SL: How can sharks find food?
ER: How do people talk with no telephone?
JN: How do satellites catch electric waves?
EA: How can space help communication?
AM: How far can electric waves go?
BG: How do electric waves help communication?
KS: Will the flowers know there are flowers in the box?
HB: How do child-proof locks know that children can’t open them?

What are the ways to send messages and how do they work?

JH: How do you talk? What does your throat look like?
JB: How fast can email be sent?
KK: How do you send a computer message?
NO: How do telephones send their message?
LM: How do you do a dial?
JM: How do you talk into the telephone?
NC: How can you talk on a cell phone with no wires?
AK: How does all kinds of communication stuff attach to the person who you are communicating with?
WJ: How does the speed of light send a message so fast?

What are the ways to receive messages?

CM: Do car radios need the satellite to work?
JP: How does the TV get its channels?

What do sounds need to travel a distance?

BG & MA: How can we hear preschoolers through the wall?
WJ: How does the sound get through the walls with walkie-talkies?

What are the codes, emergency signals and other languages?

SJ: How do you do hand motions for sign language (like- and, the, it, to, is, are)?
AH: How do you communicate with flags?
BG: How does the storm signal get turned on?