Our Image of the Child during Kite Day

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Wind Project - Theory & Science

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The Wind Project

Our Beginnings To the Wind Project
 
This school year began with a strong focus on some key dispositions that would act as a bridge for each child's growth into kindergarten:
 
• listening to adults and to peers
• posing questions to peers and adults
• working collaboratively in large and small groups
• speculating and theorizing
• expressing his or her ideas through multi-modalities: writing, inventive writing,  
   drawing, verbally, etc.
• empowering the child as an advocate of his or her own ideas
• speaking in both small and large groups
• "presenting" and fielding questions in a group
• articulating his or her ideas using a loud clear voice
• listening to and following directions
 
Each of these key dispositions supports our hope for each child in learning how to learn.
 
To foster and fuel the child's curiosity and wonder, we tossed to the children "I wonder" questions based on our observations of the children's work and conversations.  As an  example after observing the children hunting bugs on the playground, we tossed to them at the meeting, "I wonder why the bugs are under the grass and not out?"  This moment of group wonder and unpacking became part of our morning rituals.
 
On August 23, 2009 the children were gathering to come in from the playground to go into the room for our group meeting, when a strong wind blew.  Turning to Ms. Jordan with a look of surprise I. S. exclaimed, "Whoa, what kind of wind was that?"  This set the stage for our group meeting as we wondered if the others felt the wind.  The question was tossed to the group: "I wonder what kind of wind just blew on us?"
 
We were in awe as we listened to the responses we received that morning.
 
J. K. - A tornado wind
Z. O. - Japanese wind
I. S. - Windy-wind
E. F. - Summer wind
C. O. - School wind, which the student shifted his thinking to an
    Everywhere/McDonald's Wind
D. W. - Leaf wind
L. Y. - House wind
L. N. - Season-changing wind that she observed at McDonald's, which eventually
    became a McDonald's wind
M. T. - Tree wind that blows hard the kites; this became the Kite Wind
J. K. - A mountain wind
B. O. - Winter wind which became the Sea Wind
N. W. - Storm wind
I. A. - Flower wind
M. S. - Pool wind
N. N.  - Snow wind
Z. I. - Fire wind
M. W. - Winter wind shifted to a Monster/Ghost Wind
J. P. - Rose wind
A. K. - Air wind
 
The teachers also had thoughts about the wind and speculated on what was it that captured the children's attention. The teachers began to reflect on what the children revealed to us. We wondered and questioned the winds that each child had named. Were the children making up the winds that they named -- just part of a child's imagination? Or were the winds named based on real observations? What was this all about?  The following day we began to probe more and asked each child to share with us the sound that each of their winds made. To our surprise, there were 18 different and distinct sounds that they associated with their wind.
 
Once again we were in awe.
 
The winds that each child felt and named held unique qualities. What they were sharing with us was not part of their imagination but from their own personal experiences of wind.
 
We began to wonder and wanted to know more about what the children knew about not just the wind, but their particular wind.
 
As we began to unpack each child's thoughts or ideas around their wind, the learning community as a whole began to formulate a new collaborative interest or bond around the winds.
 
While partnering with the children in this shared dialogue, the teachers began a journey as well -- as co-constructors, co-learners, and co-wonderers -- with the children.  This partnership has set the foundation that has allowed the children to take risks in expressing their thoughts, ideas, and theories. Throughout the project each child's work is valued and honored by the teachers and their peers within the learning community.
 
Project Meeting
 
The children began to draw their theories of each of their individual winds. Each child concentrated on the details and personalities of their wind.  Their theory- drawings were made so that others would be able to understand the essence of each wind -- where the wind was found, how if moved and flowed, what effects it had, if any, on objects. We had them wonder about intensity and temperature. The theory- drawings enabled the child's thoughts to be made visible to the children and adults.
 
We wanted to move the children a step forward through what we began to call a "project meeting."  During the project meetings, a protocol was created to help frame a direction that would support the children's thinking.
 
During the Project Meeting, each child presented his or her theory drawing of the wind. They sat in the presenter's chair in the front of the group. The presenter would "read" their theory-drawing about their wind to the learning-community sharing: wind direction, air flow, speed, location of where one could find their wind, and any other special or unique details about their wind that they wanted to share.
 
After the presenter finished unpacking her thinking about her wind, the floor was then opened up to the group for questions or comments pertaining to the presenter's wind or theory drawing.  This process was important for the community because the drawings needed to be readable for the others.  The children also gained a greater respect for each wind and its personality or properties.
 
Animation
 
The preschool teachers began to reflect upon the children's theories that they were presenting to the community. Listening to the children's theories, we realized that although their wind theories were extraordinary and the children's explanations were equally as extraordinary, we could sense the children's frustration in trying to capture the movement and intensity of their winds in a static drawing.


We wondered -- what if we could make their theories move? Would working with a medium that allowed them to put their winds in motion push or scaffold their thinking? Would a fluid medium cause them to re-think their theories? What could we use?
 
In order to push the children's thinking from their static drawings into something that moved, we began to inquire about making their theories come to life through animation.
 
From October through November, the preschool worked with the high school technology teacher, Kevin Tokuda, and his students in bringing the children's wind theories to life. The high school students took on each of the preschoolers as their clients. Their task was to meet with each preschool client and translate the child's theory drawing into an animated drawing of their wind.
 
Throughout this collaboration with the high schoolers, we observed as the children's winds came to life. Not only did the winds come to life, but through the use of animation, the children's theories were now visible and re-visitable. We observed as the animation of the winds caused them to re-think their intentions and theories that were once static. We also noted as we "listened" to the sound of the wind that each child used in their animation. In our revisiting of previous videos at that second group meeting, the same sound that they shared that day was the very one that they  embraced as their wind sound in the animations!
 
The project with the high school was the first time that our young children were able to use animation as a medium to support their thinking.
 
Link to the children's animations http://www.youtube.com/user/mpitechteacher#p/u
 
Field/Research Observations
 
Using the theory-drawings of the children as reference point as to where the children think or know that their wind is located on the island, we have been traveling to various locations here on the island. On each research outing, the children generate a list of materials that they will need to take to find that particular wind. With each research outing to find and observe particular wind, the children generated a list of materials tailored to that particular wind. For instance, for the Kite Wind, children brought kites. When seeking the Monster Wind and Ghost Wind, the children brought flashlights even though it was the middle of the day so they wouldn't be frightened by the Ghost Wind.
 
With each research observation, the teachers generated a research question that they wanted to observe or as a provocation in understanding the children's thinking of the wind. For example, when we went to the Pali Lookout in search of the Monster and Ghost Winds, the teachers challenged the children to also find materials that could make the wind visible. This caused the children to rethink and add to the possibilities of what would make the wind visible.
 
When we went to find the Pool Wind, we wanted to capture the sparkle of the water  because this was key in the child's description of the Pool Wind.
 
A protocol has been generated within our field research observations. The child whose wind it is that we are going to observe has been acknowledged as the expert.

The experts sit at the front of the bus near the driver monitoring our route to make sure we are going to where their wind is. Upon arrival, the expert leads the group to where the wind is. While there, the children's questions are posed to the expert. This small ritual of protocol deeply engrains the sense of respecting and valuing each child's theories or ideas--the image of the child is epitomized through this ritual.
 
Due to the children's keen interest in the video that we were capturing, we were able to buy $35 video cameras for the children. When we go to a research site, the child whose wind we are researching now can do his/her documentation of their wind.
 
Current work
 
We are continuing our travels into the field to research and find where all the winds are located. We have observed about half of them.
 
The children have now focused their work or research on three areas -- a wind garden, wind catchers, and wind machines.
 
The Wind Garden-- there are small planters around the preschool outdoor space. We had noted that several children had included in their theory-drawings their particular wind, flowers or plants, which seemed important to the personality or essence of their wind. As a provocation could we have the children think more about what could be planted in the planters to catch the wind?
 
During a group meeting, the children discussed their ideas about plants that can catch the wind. After we gathered their ideas, a group of children worked in the atelier putting their ideas of plants on paper by drawing the plants. Their drawings were then presented to a group of parents who are helping with the garden. The parents in turn helped the children find their plants in garden books.

Wanting to add another provocation that would provoke the children's thinking about plants, in particular the edible plant, the teachers and parents came up with the idea of dividing the planter box in half.

One half of the planter box would be filled with plants from the children's list (see below).  The other half would be filled with with mystery plants!!


You can see from the list that the children had some wonderful ideas for plants that they wanted to add. Some will work; others won't. The adults knew there are also many plants that may be of interest to the children, though the children may not know about them. There are many plants that the children may not have even have thought about. By dividing the planter box with one-half filled with the children's ideas for plants and the other half with mystery plants, we are respecting the children's ideas and theories and allowing us to scaffold their thinking in learning about "new" plants that we (parents) will be planting or adding in the mystery section of the planter box.
 
They are determined to catch their winds and have spent a lot of time envisioning it. 

Plants mentioned include:



Strawberries, carrots, squash, broccoli, mango, parsnip, salad, lettuce, cucumbers,
tomatoes, mint, basil, apples, grapes, sunflowers, daffodils, "green plants", "red flowers", roses, lavender, hibiscus, daisies, tulips, bougainvillea, "tall orange flowers", and "tall pink flowers."

The children also discussed the need to have varying heights of plants -- and they feel that tall and small plants are needed.  Some discussions took place around seedlings that would not be able to catch the wind. The wind garden continues to take shape and form.
 
What next? We will generate a schematic "map" of the planter boxes and other areas onto a digital page for each child. We will spend a morning "observing" and documenting the plants and the winds effect on the plants to see if their assumptions/theories were correct about the plants. How will their observations change the direction of the wind garden?
 
Wind Catchers and Wind Machines
 
In observing the children work in the classroom and outdoors,  we noted that some of the children were making wind machines. These had two distinct functions -- some caught the wind in order to read what wind it was, while other wind machines were used to tell where the wind came from and measured what wind it was.

After their experiences in the field with various objects, we felt that the children were ready to move into the direction of designing a wind machine. As the children noted or referenced back to when Jessie's  Dad had visited the room to share with them about the tsunami in Somalia, the children recalled Pat telling them that engineers make a plan, they then draft a model to test, before they build the real object. The children want to use the process Pat shared with them as they work through making the wind machine.
 
Currently the children are working in groups of 3 -4 in generating their ideas and placing them into a conceptual drawing for a wind machine.
 
Noting the dialogue in the planning process the children kept referencing catching the wind and they debated what type of materials would catch the wind in the wind machine.
 
During our team meeting, the teachers discussed this aspect and wondered if we could provide the children with a mechanism for messing about or experimentation--a pre-step before they commit to a wind machine design. Feeling that this would indeed be a good what next the team decided to have the children create wind catchers.
 
The wind catchers would allow the children to experiment and observe with various materials and how those materials interacted with the wind. The wind catchers would be designed from found and or recycled materials. Each wind catcher would focus on one or two specific materials and could incorporate some elements of design along with the materials. The wind catchers would be strategically placed outside the classroom window where the children could observer them throughout the day. Once we have all 8 - 10 designed and placed in the experimentation zone --the children begin to observe and note which wind catchers and what materials work best in catching the winds movement etc.
 
 
Mega Project-Wind


As our work with the Wind Project continues to unfold we wondered what children across the world know or think about the wind. Would they begin to categorize their winds as our children have or would they find different winds specific to their areas? Could we use the children's wind animations as a springboard for discussions worldwide?
 
A provocation around this question was posted on the Reggio Listserv. Immediately three schools responded saying they would be interested and from that point on more and more schools are expressing interest. As of this posting, there are 14 schools from across the globe that have begun a dialogue and work around researching what children know using the constructs of wind as their focus.
 
Our work continues....
 
 
 
 
 

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The Plans...graphic metaphors

From the moment your child entered the world they became "readers" of the world around. Your child began to "read" images and connect those images with words spoken. From the moment he/she was born, your child began decoding facial expressions. This decoding process allowed your child to interpret your body language and its meaning in relationship to self and others.

We find this process of decoding soon transferred to their play, as children make a shift into the symbolic representations of objects such as a stick becomes a cane or a fishing pole. Or when children use images in their drawings in making their thinking visible to us. As children develop we find them shifting from drawing to using the inventive spelling of words, writing words and short sentences.

Within this whole cycle or process, children pass through multiple layers of languages -- writing, drawings, symbolic objects, mediums (e.g.,clay, wire, paper) gestures, movement, etc. Each layer strengthens the child's pathway to literacy and his/her understanding of the "written" word.

Too often adults want to hurry children ahead, moving them quickly to the written word by pouring words into the children without allowing them to process meaning through a symbolic hierarchy of thought. In this rush to push children to the written word, an important layer in the thought process known as "encoding" isn't allowed to percolate within the child long enough. One of the most known uses of encoding comes when children learn to write words. They are given a verbal word and then "taught" using prescribed lessons or methods on how to internalize or encode the sounds or knowing how to write the word.

What happens to the process if we slow it down and provide the child with a tool for ownership and the time to work in the encoding process? 

Research suggests that all learning methods that proceed by discovery and active construction must necessarily undergo error. Simply put, children must and need to make mistakes. Within a learning community, errors are points for dialogue and exchange of ideas. Errors set the stage for debate and disequilibrium that causes the child to think and often rethink their theories and ideas, even around words and symbols. This in turn pushes them into the realms of meta-cognition or critical thinking.

One of the purest and most important levels is through the use of symbols. For the child, the world is full of symbols.

Symbols and the children's use of them provide a level of communication that transcends cultural and language barriers. It allows for children to "mess" about with their use and to undergo a transformation of thinking as the child makes the symbol readable to others. Symbols provide rich contexts for the children to toss about and edit graphic metaphors for which they are the authors and owners.

This freedom to invent symbols provides a rich context for us to see the child's thinking as it unfolds. It can provide us a graphic record of his/her cognitive growth.

Working within the context and freedom in the invention of symbols, the child thinks about his thinking and how it is readable or understandable to the viewer. He learns how to make a symbol which makes sense to the child and to the viewer. Our Daily Plans is a tool in the process that brings all of this together for the child.

Let us look at some of the children's  work with symbols. Let look as they become authors in the invention of  "graphic metaphors" through the Plan.                                           

Click here to view their work.

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