C51: Research Skills for Early Years (PK-K)

Welcome back my early years friends.  Sorry for the delay the past few weeks, but I’ve been busy preparing for my school’s verification visit in less than a month.  I’ve been working crazy hours, but my head has still been a buzz with ideas regarding early years. 

When I think of our earliest learners, I naturally think of research skills.  They are naturally curious about the world around them and are constantly exploring through play.  By asking questions, testing out theories, and collaborating with others, they are researching how the world works.  This is why early years are such a magical time in school. 

As we are thinking of formal research skills, we know there are some things that teachers can do to invite this deeper thinking into the classroom.  Teachers can: 
 

• Ensure sufficient time for uninterrupted play (in responsive learning spaces) to practice and develop research skills.
• Collaborate with, for example, the librarian and technology specialists to build research skills and to help students identify sources of information.
• Model academic integrity by acknowledging where materials and ideas came from.

When I look at this list, I think about how an early years classroom and schedule are designed.  If learning “content” is the focus, then we lose out on all of the wonderings that students will answer through playful exploration. By allowing for sufficient time for uninterrupted play, our learners drive their journey through tinkering and making connections between ideas.  Isn’t this how we learn best? 

Once learners have experienced sufficient time to tinker, they are able to formulate ideas to share with others.  This is so important, so they can apply their thinking in a variety of ways to make generalizations.  As educators, we enter to model the processes, challenge misconceptions, and acknowledge where ideas come from.  

Imagine if this was your class.  Would you be excited to go to school everyday?  I certainly would.  But, when I entered the building, how would I know how to seek information on my own? 
The IB has designed the research ATLs to be the guide to this process.  Let’s take a look at the various sub-skills. 

• Formulating and planning
• Data gathering and documenting (audio recording, drawing, photographing)
• Synthesizing and interpreting
• Evaluating and communicating
• Media literacy

Just like last time, we will take a deeper look at the sub-skill criteria and see how we might break it down, so it’s easier for students to access.
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Synthesizing and interpreting

​We like to truly understand what we are learning, which is why we like to synthesize and interpret information.  If you're like me, you might do this too much.  But, this process helps us to internalize information to create meaning.

Sort and categorize information and materials

When I am thinking of sorting and categorizing information, a thousand ways pop into my head.  Let’s take a look at a few of them that go beyond matching games or sorting into Venn diagrams. 

One of my kinder teachers presented a lesson where she was reviewing the needs of plants.  The learners were given various parts of a plant and asked to sort them onto a paper in proper sequence.  As she talked through the needs of plants, students were able to independently identify that roots were on the bottom.  When I questioned their thinking, they were able to compare the roots to our mouth drinking a glass of water. This is where we know that students are able to sort and categorize information. 

In one of my pre-kinder classes, the students were given pan scales and were asked to make predictions based on the weight of an object.  Students were given certain roles (partner A or B) and were given objects to compare.  Before the second object was placed in the pan, they were asked to verbalize their predictions using a sentence stem.  The teacher referred back to a prior activity where they learn about lighter and heavier objects.

These engagements are an example of research skills, because students are testing their ideas based on prior knowledge, making predictions, creating a test, analyzing the results, and making conclusions on their learning.  These engagements set the stage for future learning. 

Analyze and interpret information

My favorite engagement that comes to mind was in a kindergarten class in Germany.  The class was completing an invitation to inquiry to make predictions about the new unit. They participated in five different stations and debriefed by making connections between each station.  

In one of the stations, students were blowing air through a straw and comparing the distance that objects traveled.  Some objects used were feathers, cotton balls, and marbles to name a few.  The fascinating part was when a learner was able to articulate that the weight of an object greatly impacts how far it would go.   She could see that it took a lot of energy to move a marble and quite little to move a feather. This is a huge concept for a little child.

When we are analyzing and interpreting information, we are trying to figure out how it works and why it works that way.  This is the power of play in action to research and explore the world around us.  

I think there are endless possibilities with developing research skills through play.  It’s about if we are willing to test them out and shift our view of what “research” looks like in the early years. 

Thanks for joining, be sure to check out our next early years session in episode 54. ​