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Investigating the Tallgrass Prairie.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Burns, Marcia V. Hertzog, Nancy B. |
| Copyright Year | 2008 |
| Abstract | This article describes an investigation of a tallgrass prairie undertaken by 3through 7-year-old children in a preschool and a combined kindergarten/first-grade classroom at a Midwestern university. The teaching teams were curious about how these two age groups would explore their questions about the prairie—how their questions would differ by age group, what interested them most, and whether they would come to different levels of understanding. The children's involvement in this investigation is illustrated through photographs, samples of their work, and explanations. The article compares the studies in each classroom, discussing how children addressed similar questions and the effects of collaboration on their social and emotional development. Little School on the Prairie University Primary School is an early childhood program affiliated with the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It serves the mission of the university by providing opportunities for research, teaching, and service. The school is a demonstration site for the Project Approach. The school is located in central Illinois, near a reclaimed tallgrass prairie park. Twenty-six preschool (3 through 5 years old) and 26 kindergarten/first-grade students (5 through 7 years old) engaged in this investigation. Each class has one head teacher and two graduate student teaching assistants. The teaching staff plans collaboratively within teams once a week, and the director conducts meetings of the whole staff monthly. Figure 1. Students visit the prairie. Preliminary Planning Many children at University Primary School (UPS) stay in the program and move from preschool to the kindergarten/first-grade classroom. During the spring of 2006, we observed a strong interest in insects, plants, and animals among the children. In the fall of 2007, and for the first time at UPS, both head teachers decided to involve the children in an investigation of the same topic: the Illinois tallgrass prairie. We collaborated on planning the essential understandings that we hoped the children would acquire. Both teaching teams developed a list of similar essential understandings and big ideas: We live near the prairie; Illinois is the prairie state. Attributes of the prairie can be compared to those of other habitats on Earth. The habitat of the prairie is conducive to certain types of plants and animals, and those life forms are interdependent. There is a relationship between the climate and the prairie habitat. Humans affect the environment and play a role in taking care of the prairie. Many disciplines are involved in the study of prairies (e.g., biology, environmental science, geology, geography, social sciences). These essential understandings and big ideas were noted on our weekly lesson plans and kept in mind as we designed the learning experiences that would help the children answer their questions about the prairie. Phase 1: Sharing Memories and Experiences In each classroom, we began the project by sharing a memory about taking a walk through the local reclaimed prairie park. We described what we saw there, including tall grasses, birds, and deer. In the K/1 class, the deer intrigued the children. Children shared their own stories, then brainstormed what they already understood or believed about the prairie. Figure 2. Preschool student concept web 1. Figure 3. K/1 student concept web 1. Page 1 of 11 ECRP. Vol 10 No 1. Investigating the Tall Grass Prairie http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v10n1/burns.html To explore the definition of a prairie, the teachers asked the children to predict what they would not find on the prairie. Their initial ideas follow: The children drew pictures and wrote stories about their prairie experiences. The preschoolers represented their initial understandings through paintings, collages, and a collaborative mural painting. Both classes arranged a field trip to the local restored prairie park. All of the children sketched and photographed the environment around the school building and predicted whether they would or would not see similar items on the prairie. The children also surveyed one another’s predictions of what they would see on the prairie. They compiled the list of predictions to check off on the field trip. Predictions give voice to the children’s current knowledge and understandings. During the field trip, children sketched their observations, counted and measured, and took field notes. They also checked to see whether their predictions were accurate. Back in the classroom, the children compared their observations and formulated questions to investigate further. Amusement park Forests Mall Radio tower Roller coaster Curtis Orchard Big city Zoo School Rocky Mountains Eiffel Tower Desert Short grass, lawn Farm Road Restaurant Swimming pool Field of cows Bank Grocery store Garden Figure 4. Preschool memory drawings of the prairie. Figure 5. Preschool easel paintings of the prairie. Figure 6: Preschool collaborative mural about their initial ideas about the prairie. Figure 7. Preschool observational drawings of our school environment. Figure 8. Photograph taken by a preschooler of our school environment. Figure 9. Preschoolers surveying predictions of what they thought they would see on the prairie field trip. Figure 10. A K/1 child sketched her predictions of what she would not see on the prairie. Page 2 of 11 ECRP. Vol 10 No 1. Investigating the Tall Grass Prairie http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v10n1/burns.html Phase 2: Study Group Investigations and Fieldwork Small Study Groups The children in the two classrooms sorted their new questions into categories, which then became the basis of small study groups (see Table 1). In both classrooms, children expressed an interest in prairie plants and animals. In the preschool, other study groups developed based on their questions about prairie fires and water on the prairie. The K/1 children’s question categories also included insects, weather/climate, and a comparison between the prairie and the desert. The K/1 head teacher had a colleague who teaches second grade in Tucson, Arizona. To help the children understand the relationship between attributes of the prairie and the environment that we live in, she arranged for an e-mail correspondence between her students and her colleague’s students in Arizona—that is why the Prairie Attributes Study Group became the desert/prairie comparison group. Figure 11. Preschoolers observe plants on the trip to the prairie. Figure 12. Preschoolers check their predictions. Figure 13. Preschoolers debrief and share information after their field trip. Table 1 Students’ Questions about the Prairie in Both Classrooms Preschool K/1 Plant Study Group What kinds of flowers are there? How tall do the plants grow? Are there roses on the prairie? Do the plants have leaves? Is there grass on the prairie? Plant Study Group I wonder how trees grow? Are there wildflowers all year round? Are cornfields part of the prairie? Why does the grass grow tall? |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 10 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ848825.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
