Going for the Big Apple

Once I got over the cover of the book "Guided Inquiry", I have become quite a fan of the writings of Carol Kuhlthau, and it is her words that have helped me make a decision on the topic for this project.

"Inquiry is an approach whereby students use a variety of sources of information and ideas to increase their understanding of a problem, topic, or issue." (page 2)
Project-based learning falls short when it overemphasizes the product and underemphasizes learning. (page 3)

I naturally drift towards choosing problems or issues over topics to investigate. Thus my long-winded entries on text messaging. Considering the circumstances (due date, product requirement, scoring breakdown) I think it would be more wise to choose a topic to investigate rather than an issue. A narrow topic seems more manageable.

I think this project is structured in a way to allow focus to be on the learning, but at the same time, parameters must be set and evaluation criteria must be considered. These are unavoidable stipulations. My decision making process has given me insights on how students must often feel when doing open-ended work for me.

There is a definite conflict between the desire to choose something of personal value and the reality of having to produce a product in a certain time frame. Annette has lifted the burden of a defined, uniform end-product, but there is still a requirement of some kind of graded product that must be submitted on a specific date. As teachers, we have to set such requirements, and we must have something to measure -- usually in a numerical fashion.

I know I am no where near the Wrapping stage of this process, but the student (not to be confused with the learner) in me is leary of free-falling into a topic that may or may not lend itself to placement in a nice square, doable package. Many times in the past, a frustrated student has asked me to spell out "what I am looking for" so that she can meet my expectations. My response has frequently been "I am looking for evidence that you have learned something." I now understand the inadequacy of that answer. As long as I am assigning points and giving credit, I cannot expect students to operate solely as interested, self-directed learners. Their prime interests might fall outside the parameters of the assigned project.

All that said simply to declare that I am going to deepen my exploration of what to do with five teenagers on a tight budget in five evenings in New York City.

(My pursuit of text messaging answers will carry-on without deference to the IUPUI bursar's office.)