![\"student-led](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/student_led_inquiry.jpg\")
Is curiosity important? What does it mean to be a curious learner? What am I curious about?<\/p>\nIs curiosity important? What does it mean to be a curious learner? What am I curious about?<\/p>\n
These are some of the questions Cornwall, VT students considered this winter as they embarked on inquiry-based, personalized, research projects. For six weeks, we turned learning over to our students for the (first annual!<\/i>) Curiosity Projects.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I stumbled onto Scot Hoffman, Mike Jackson, & Sammi Smith\u2019s Google Doc of Curiosity Projects<\/a> last spring. Their Curiosity Projects are a six-week, inquiry-based research exploration on a topic of personal interest to the student, and culminates in a showcase of student presentations. The project\u2019s goals are for students to \u201cinitiate their own learning, gather information, share information, and reflect on their learning.\u201d Teachers become collaborators,<\/a> guiding students to resources, helping connect them with mentors, and prompting frequent reflection to help students make meaning of their learning.<\/p>\n My colleagues and I maintained the creators\u2019 vision while fitting the project to our school’s context. We launched the project by sharing video interviews with Curious Learners<\/a> as well as our own stories of following our curiosities into expertise. We outlined the project for students, gave them a Curiosity Journal, and asked them to brainstorm topic ideas. We also asked them to interview an adult about the nature and importance of curiosity.<\/p>\n After ruminating on topics for a few days, we asked students to choose one, and interviewed each student to help them gauge their passion for the topic.<\/p>\n Many had specific ideas and genuine interest in the topic they wanted to pursue, and others needs more guidance. We reviewed their brainstormed list, probed with questions, and found topics that we could see generated enthusiasm.<\/p>\n We also helped students re-frame some interests to be more personally relevant, such as a student who initially wanted to learn about Taylor Swift. After discussing the root of her interest, she was able to recognize part of her interest was in learning how to become a more successful performance artist herself, and her topic expanded into lessons she could glean from famous performers.<\/p>\n Once students had committed to their topic, we worked with them to develop driving questions to guide their research, using resources from the Buck Institute for Education<\/a>. We explored different avenues students might take to build their knowledge, such as our school and local libraries, experts, and the internet, and introduced students to concept mapping as a way to organize their growing body of knowledge.<\/p>\n It became clear early on that most students were drawn to the using the internet as their primary methodology. We followed their lead and coached them in appropriate use, evaluating and citing sources, and time management.<\/p>\n Mentorship is a also key aspect of the Curiosity Projects.<\/p>\n Students, teachers, and parents collaborated – using a variety of approaches including Front Porch Forum<\/a> — to find and connect students with mentors who shared their passion. Mentors fulfilled a variety of roles: some students shadowed a local baker, another visited a local recording studio, and several students with physics-based interests interviewed a local physics professor.<\/p>\nLaunching the projects<\/h2>\n
Digging in<\/h3>\n
Reflecting & sharing <\/b><\/h2>\n