GREAT THINKING THURSDAY
For Klein ISD Educators of Gifted Learners
Schultz Elementary Service Learning Project
Development of Questions: Research Pathways LAUNCH: Part 2
By Carrie Raiyawa-Advanced Academic Program Coordinator
Research Milestones - Development of Questions
Part 2
Your student has chosen a topic for their research. Now what? Time to ask a ton of questions! The new Research Pathways Website has a whole page dedicated to developing questions!
Encourage students to begin brainstorming all the things they want to learn about their topic in the form of questions. They can keep track of questions digitally or in a folder or journal.
Either way, there should be a special place for them to keep anything related to research. Let’s make it an exciting endeavor that has a special place in their lives and the classroom!
If they are struggling to think of questions have them consider what they would ask an expert if they were able to interview them. If you could sit right in front of an engineer and ask them anything you want to know, what would you ask them?
When they have a list of questions, have them share with other students and get their input.
If their questions can be answered with a yes or no, have them revise to make them open ended.
This process should be fun and challenging! Add your own unique teaching style and ideas to engage your students even more! Here is a video from John Spencer, author of The Launch Cycle, about the basic research cycle.
Check out this SUPER STEM Resource Just for Kids!-GT Differentiation
Here is a super cool site from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): https://www.k12videos.mit.edu/videos
I especially like the #askMIT link where kids can send videos and MIT experts answer the questions and post them to their YouTube channel.
And Science Out Loud which answers some interesting questions as well!
How does this relate to GT Differentiation? You could utilize these sites as learning stations, independent work, research pathway resources, part of learning contract and more!