SOLE: HOW DOES A SUBMARINE WORK??

SUBMARINES

MARCH 1, 2013

Today we tried out a new approach.  Today, instead of handing the kids an instruction sheet for building a submarine with the supplies that I had purchased, we took a different approach, thanks to the inspiration of a video produced on TED TALKS at this link:

 "Build a School in the Cloud"

We started our session by watching a short video.

It was pretty cool and got the kids attention!

I then informed the kids that their adventure was to learn how submarines work, to build a model with the supplies that were out on our kitchen counter, then show what they learned on a poster.

There was some frustration from a few at first because they weren't "hand fed" but eventually they joined the others in their excitement and it was really amazing to see what they learned through their "Student Organized Learning Environment (SOLE)."

We are going to do something like this at least a couple of times a month and hopefully more as I get better at teaching this way!

Bethany jumped in, Rachel is a bit stressed at the beginning ---

Benjamin took the "English Grandmother" role

Supplies for the submarine model

Asking questions and gathering knowledge

Bethany, Daniel and David with their submarine model

 Joseph Rachel and Rebecca had a hard time getting their sub to sink completely.

Rachel would not give up and  despite "defeat" from siblings, she kept at it with her ideas and .....

It worked!  Joseph saw her success and said, "How did you do that?"

A great success moment for Rachel!

Mason wants to have a try, too!!!

Rachel and Rebecca working on their sub model

Watching it sink on its own as it fills up with water.

Rachel blowing air into her submarine to displace the water so it will rise up again!

 Working on their poster!

SOLE: A NEW TEACHING APPROACH

SOLE:  A NEW TEACHING APPROACH

STUDENT ORGANIZED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Today my handsome prince sent me a video link that he had watched and encouraged me to watch.  I was so inspired by this that I am jumping in with a trail run tomorrow in our home school!

We have such a variety of levels and personalities in our 8 home schoolers with a wide range of ages -- 4 1/2 to 17 1/2!!

It will be interesting to see how this goes!

I had all ready planned to do an activity to go along with our brief study of Robert Fulton, so it will be fairly easy to adapt this lesson to follow the 

guidelines of the SOLE approach.

Watch the video, look at the packet, and check back to see what happens tomorrow!  Wish me luck!!

School in the Cloud 

SOLE Tool Kit

With our variety of kiddos, some unfortunately with some baggage from their past in Russian orphanages, I think that this "group" work and the guidelines presented could be some really good learning experiences.  It could also end up being chaos -- but we are going to try.

As I have summarized this in my mind: we will do a 1 - 1 1/2  hour session learning about submarines, they will gather information, create a poster and make a submarine out of supplies that I provide.  I have the supplies to create pop bottle submarines but I think I will give them a little start and then NOT provide any instructions.  I will see how far they can get with just an occasional question from me to encourage them.

A KEY COMPONENT in all of this approach is the "GRANDMOTHER ROLE."  That is defined as having someone complimenting their efforts and telling them how clever and smart they are for figuring out what they do!!

My role tomorrow during this activity will be to present a short youtube video linked here:

US SUBMARINES

and get them excited about how cool subs are!

Then set them loose to figure out how they work, where they came from 

and with the assignment to build one!

As they work and progress, I will help with behavior, be a sounding board that doesn't give answers, encourage problem solving and mostly tell them how great they are doing!!!

I am excited to see what happens!!!

I am pretty sure I will have one son who will get mad and will end up with everyone leaving his group -- there is always the option of changing groups at any time in this philosophy!!!

There will be some good social experiences and learning how to get along and to behave in a way so that people want to work with you.

It will be interesting!!!

I wonder if we will end up with 2 groups or 7 by the end of the activity!!! :)