International Inquiry Based Learning and Teaching

The following video is an example of a large scale project undertaken at a school in Alabama; Auburn Early Education Center. The school is home to five hundred - yes, 500! - three to five year olds. The project evolved from a country study where the children decided to study Brazil. The project evolved into a multi-media performance guided by the students themselves that took classmates through the process of leaving one country to travel to another country, the airport, security, boarding passes; the children thought of everything! The complexity of this project is extraordinary.

My Observations
The teachers' focus is definitely on helping the children utilize their experience, outline their own learning and experiential gaps, build on previous knowledge, guide them to where they can find the learning, and assist in putting the pieces together. She states that the project helped children work on cooperation, problem solving, and critical thinking. When the class pet died, the teacher turned this into a learning experience that engaged the children because the content and experience was authentic, it was meaningful to them.

Look For...
The ways that the teacher gets the students to buy into writing, illustrating, and editing their work for publication! I love this.