The basics of this lesson can be used with students at different levels, helping them to identify what they already know and to build interest in and curiosity for the inquiry work to come. It also guides them to develop questions about things they are curious about and want to know before they begin the research process.

Information Literacy/Inquiry Objectives:

Connecting to AASL's Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, 2007)

• Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning (1.1.2).
• Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners (3.1.2).
• Show social responsibility by participating actively with others in learning situations and by contributing questions and ideas during group discussions (3.2.2).
• Connect ideas to own interests and previous knowledge and experience (4.1.5).

Curriculum (subject area) Objectives:

Any

Grade Levels: Adaptable for K-12

Resources:

Items from nature

Physical objects

Primary source documents, maps, or images from:

• Library of Congress American Memory project. http://memory.loc.gov
• National Archives. http://www.archives.gov
• Calisphere. http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/
• Mel Michigan eLibrary. http://mel.org/ SPT—BrowseResourcesMichigana.php?ParentId=687

Other online or print source

• For a photo of a mastodon tooth, see http://www.lakeneosho.org/More20.html
• For the "Lincoln's Pockets" exercise, download the images from http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/stern-lincoln/objects.html

Instructional Roles:

The teacher and school librarian meet to discuss an upcoming unit of study or research. They identify key ideas, themes, and questions that might arise in the unit. They then identify a primary source (an object, document, map, or image) that will be used to introduce the unit using the See, Think, Wonder method (Fontichiaro 2010). The focus of the activity is to elicit what students already know through a series of three scaffolded questions of increasing difficulty. When the activity is presented, one educator acts as the discussion facilitator and the other as scribe.

Procedures for Completion:

Three versions of this activity, for various age groups, are described below. Each uses the See, Think, Wonder method for discussion of primary sources. Students progress through three questions. "What do you see?" is a question that prompts students to describe the objects attributes without naming it (e.g., "brown bumps" or, "It's written in poetry form," or, "There is a key to the symbols"). This stage uses students' existing knowledge to describe an item. The second question, "What do you think?," invites students to name the object, document, or image (e.g., "I think it's a tooth," "I think the two men are Abraham Lincoln and his son," or, "I think it's an old map of the world"). This stage invites students to make sense of the attributes by trying to synthesize them into naming an item. The third question, "What do you wonder?," invites questioning and curiosity that can carry into an inquiry-based unit of study or research project. In this stage, students are encouraged to ask questions that have not already been answered. In the course of discussion, the teaching team may reveal some answers; other questions may be revealed through research or further study.

Sample Primary Lesson: Focus on Hands-On Exploration

Kindergarten students are learning in the classroom about Early Peoples. The children sit in a circle. One educator creates a three-column chart: What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder?

One educator, the facilitator, pulls a mastodon tooth out of a canvas bag. "I have something here, and I would like each of you to hold and tell us one way that you would describe it. I'm going to start: 'I feel bumps.'" The facilitator passes the tooth around the circle, with each child adding or repeating an attribute (e.g., bumpy, heavy, smooth, rough). The second educator scribes the students' answers. When the tooth is returned to the facilitator, she thanks the students for their descriptions and says, "Now 'turn and talk (Harvey and Daniels 2009) to your partner about what you think this thing is." Students quickly confer and then report their ideas, which are added to the chart. (In doing this lesson, kindergarten answers have ranged from a foot to a tooth to a seahorse.)

The facilitator again thanks the students and identifies the object as a mastodon tooth before asking, "What do you wonder? What questions do you have about this object?" Students again "turn and talk" (Harvey and Daniels 2009) and then share their ideas with the class, where they are scribed.

From this point, the class inquiry about mammoths can build. The educators refer and add to the chart as the class discovers information that answers the students' questions.

Sample Secondary Lesson: Focus on Socially-Constructed Prior Knowledge

Students are about to begin their study of the Civil War. The teacher and school librarian are concerned that study in past years (a combination of classroom work and research) has focused too much on "superficial facts" (AASL 2007) and that the students do not seem connected to the people of the Civil War.

In advance of the lesson, the instructors print out 8" x 10" color photos of each of the nine items that were in Lincoln's pockets at the time of his assassination (see URL in Resources). A PowerPoint presentation with each of the nine items is also created.

The class is divided into nine groups. Each group is given one image. Students are divided into roles: discussion leader, scribe, and reporter. The instructors repeat the series of questions from above; the discussion leader in each group facilitates the small group discussion and the scribe makes notes. After a few moments of discussion, the class reconvenes as a large group. The other instructor projects each image, and reporters share their groups' answers to each question. Finally, the first instructor says that all of the objects are related, and the entire class brainstorms how they are related. ("A. Lincoln" is embroidered on a handkerchief and engraved on the temple of the eyeglasses, so save these for the end.) If no one guesses, the instructors reveal that all of the items were in Lincoln's pockets when he was assassinated. What can they learn about Lincoln as a person from this inventory of items? How did those details make the students more eager to learn about the historical events that led up to his assassination?

Student Assessment/Reflection:

Because the purpose of this lesson is to build student enthusiasm and excitement about the project to come, and for the teachers to gain some understanding of students' current knowledge and curiosity in order to make the forthcoming inquiry work more resonant, there is no formal assessment. Instead, the teachers observe the conversation and use the questions and comments to guide their future lesson design. Students are encouraged to use their curiosity-driven questions as a foundation for beginning the inquiry process.

Professional Reflection:

While we have traditionally used primary sources as research tools, we have found the use of images, tactile objects, and documents to build excitement and enthusiasm for the work to come.

References:

American Association of School Librarians. Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. American Library Association, 2007. http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/standards (accessed February 9, 2010).

Fontichiaro, Kristin. Super Smart Information Strategies: Go Straight to the Source. Cherry Lake Publishing, 2010.

Harvey, Stephanie, and Harvey Daniels. Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action. Heinemann, 2009.