Investigate and Gather- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Generating Questions 

The Identify stage is a challenging, important, exciting phase in the inquiry process.

With teacher/librarian assistance, students will generate questions, and the librarian will work with students to group them into categories. Using a SMART Board or Google Doc will provide flexibility to move ideas around on the page.

Ask students to write one or two questions that interest them in their research journal.

Questions can be posted throughout the Gather and Create Phases to remind students about the class research questions.

Academic Vocabulary

Throughout the unit, record academic vocabulary on chart paper or a Google document and refer back to it.

English               Spanish

questions           preguntas

research             investigación

Using iPads to Document Research

In order to collect photos for the Create and Share phases, distribute an iPad to pairs of students. As these students travel together from one center to the next, they can document their research journey by taking pictures.

Stations

Students will visit stations to learn more about reducing, reusing and recycling, and to gather information to answer class-generated research questions. 

Additional Ideas for the Gather Phase

School custodians are an excellent resource for answering questions about recycling at the school. Consider interviewing a custodian as part of the research process. See the Interview an Expert tab under Additional Resources for a sample interview.

A "field trip" to the cafeteria during lunch to observe students throwing away or recycling items would be a great addition to the Gather phase. The recycling bins outside would be another potential source of information.

Logistics/Management

The librarian/teacher may allow students to choose the stations they visit, or students may be required to visit all of the stations for a specified period of time. Student choice typically increases motivation and engagement, but a disadvantage may be that students will only want to visit the Reuse Stations where they make a reusable craft. This disadvantage can be mitigated by making certain stations (e.g., Print Resources Station) a requirement and others a choice.

It will be necessary for a staff member (preferably the classroom teacher) to facilitate the Print Resources Station since students will need to navigate materials at that station that they may have difficulty reading independently.

Note:

Authentic Audience / Purpose

To provide students with an authentic audience for their work, this unit could be tied to Earth Day, and the second graders could present their research findings to younger students or students from another campus (via Skype) on that day.