Note: Explanations of key ideas appear in green.
1. Assignment: Initial assignment involved gathering information in the natural environment and then bringing it to the library to seek understanding. Students gathered the raw data, and then researched its meaning using library resources.
2 Authentic Learning: This unit has the substance, the real-world audience, and the product focus to make it an authentic learning experience. Everything the students are learning and doing builds on top of each other to ultimately lead them to helping solve a problem that exists in their own back yard.
3. Choice: Multiple opportunities for choice are integrated into this unit. Students are choosing a course of action and a method of participation. Since the learning is extended beyond the classroom and beyond the school day, students are given even more friend to pursue personal levels of inquiry in this project.
4. Cognitive Apprenticeship: Multiple examples are in place. Students interact with and are guided by representatives from the extension office, the department of natural resources, and from Purdue University.
5. Collaboration: Collaboration occurs on multiple levels and to multiple degrees: student to student, student to expert, student to librarian, student to teacher, teacher to expert, teacher to librarian, and librarian to expert. There is also a huge community member level of collaboration that occurs in this unit.
6. Constructivism: The students followed their own interests and passions, while the adults served as co-learners and guides. Jones' original plan was flexible enough to accommodate the loosestrife discovery and resulting inquiry conducted by the students.
7. Inquiry: This is the entire unit from start to finish. Students started with a teacher guided inquiry into local plant life, stepped into a controlled inquiry when using library resources name plant life, spun into a student generated free inquiry into loosestrife, and observed their teacher and media specialist conduct their own inquiry.
8. Interview: Students had to engage in real-world interviews to gather information from experts. At another level, they had to interview property owners in the school district about loosestrife to build their collection of information.
9. Motivation: Some would argue (and the writer of this website is included in that number) that for motivation to contribute to the learning environment, it must be intrinsic. This unit is designed in a way to encourage ownership, choice, movement, novelty, affirmation, and product focus. The degree of motivation that students exhibit it under individual student control. Rehsling is included as an example of a student with intrinsic motivation that felt ownership of her learning.
10. Project-based and Social Action Learning: The end result of this unit made a difference in the community. Students took on a real environmental concern, educated the community, and designed a measurable solution to the problem.
Source of Key Words: http://www.virtualinquiry.com/glossary/index.htm