I began thinking about all the possible topics that I could explore. While I had already thought I decided on Ireland, I did a little exploration into different topics to truly gage what exactly I want to research. I am currently in Lamb's "Watching" stage. I started to make discuss the possibilities with my partner to see what he thought. He thought that Ireland was a good idea to research, but for some reason, I wasn't satisfied.
I began to gather ideas. I started by considering different topics that I am interested in...
1) I really like politics, but I hear enough about that on the news...
2) I thought about exploring gay rights, but was having trouble focusing the topic...
3) I also thought about exploring music, since I play the violin..
4) I thought about and explored some European history, including the Crusades and the Tudor dynasty in England.
5) I thought about American History.
I thought about what I already knew...
1) Politics: Too much and pretty tired of hearing about it
2) Gay rights: Some...difficult to see potential in learning anything significant.
3) Music: Way too much. I studied music throughout high school. I want to explore something else.
4) Tudor dynasty: They killed each other like flies. The Crusade: The Christians killed the Muslims. There was a Children's Crusade where they were all slaughtered.
5) American History...What about the pioneer days. I know that there was this decision called the Louisiana Purchase and the Oregon Trail.
I thought about what I wanted to know...
1) Politics: Why is it so corrupt? Why are so many politicians focused on moral, social issues that they have no business being in? This led me to think about social programs...How can we change social programs to where they encourage people to pull themselves out of poverty. I mean, those food stamp debit cards seem pretty cool. And they're free! What does the government do to encourage people to get off welfare? How can we prevent poverty...Wow! I'm getting way off topic...
2) Gay Rights: What victories have there been in gay rights? Where is gay marriage legal? Was our 15th president, Buchanan, really gay? Will gay marriage every be accepted? Will we have an openly-gay president? Why exactly do people oppose gay marriage? Why do Christians oppose homosexuality when Jesus never specifically condemned it?
3) Music: Way too broad. How about Mozart....Why exactly did he die? What about him was crazy?
4) Tudor dynasty: Why was Bloody Mary such a stickler about killing protestants? Why has Henry VIII crazy? How did he die? What were the specific circumstances surrounding his divorce to Catherine of Aragon? How exactly did Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymore come to be his wives? Why did Edward die? Was Elizabeth I really the greatest monarch in English history? Why? Why did she kill her cousin? Soo many questions....
The Crusades: Why? (They had nothing better to do???)
5) The Louisiana Purchase: What were the circumstances beyond Jefferson's purchase? Why? What enticed families move to Oregon? Why? What exactly did they bring with them? What happened along the way? What did they do when they got there?
Josh,
ReplyDeleteVirginia Rankin (1992)presents the idea of the pre-search. She says, "It's [pre-search] the process that helps students to relate research to their prior knowledge of a topic first, and then develop questions about the topic to organize their search." You are definitely in the questioning stage, but how to get you out of it? I think that if you focus your pre-search on what you know and don't know it might help. You have a section about what you know. I feel that under the first four topics you have a fairly good idea of your current knowledge. And yes you would like to know more, but the Oregon Trail topic seems to be the most vague. This is such an interesting subject and I think has a lot of potential. You list it last yet I feel that you have solid questions and enough need for more information to make this a great inquiry project. You also have it as the blog title so I think subconsciously it is pulling you into its grasp. :) Another reason I think you should take off with the Oregon Trail inquiry is that it offers many curricular ideas for your 6th graders. Think of the projects and assignments you could incorporate into your classes from the resources and information you acquire! Good luck as you move forward. Hope this helps a bit!
Anne
Excellent job exploring the possibilities and citing materials from the professional readings. Keep up the great work!
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