SOLEs

Key Competency Assessment Ideas

• • Thinking

    • Are students thinking about the big question and generating more questions from their wonderings?

  • Managing Selves

    • Are the students staying on task in their groups and as they wander around checking out what the other groups have found out?

  • Relating to Others

    • Are the students listening to each other, and asking questions to clarify points of uncertainty in their groups?

  • Understanding Language, Symbols, and Texts

    • Are the students able to read and understand the information they find on the internet?

  • Participating and Contributing

    • Are all students in the SOLE participating? Do they have a clear understanding of their different roles?

Content Assessment Ideas

• • Are the students able to answer the question or present relevant information about the question in their feedback session?

  • Are there more questions generated by the research?

  • What big ideas have come out of the research?

Introduction

Sugata Mitra’s work around the Hole in the Wall experiments lead to the development of SOLEs where students work together in small groups on an inquiry question, primarily answered via the internet. The role of the teacher becomes that of an encourager and connecter.

Materials

• • 1 computer per group of students (4-6)

  • whiteboard or blackboard to write questions on

  • paper and pens for students to take notes for their sharing at the end of the session

  • peer helper

Suggested Session Format

(This is taken from Sugata Mitra’s SOLE Toolkit)

• • Questions - 5 mins

    • Pose an inquiry question.

    • Generate interest by offering a creative prompt, like an image or video, or playing audio that relates to the question.

    • Explain the SOLE process.

    • Nominate a helper and briefly describe the role.

  • Investigation - 40 mins

    • Kids work in groups to find answers online to the inquiry question.

    • Delegate behaviour management and problem-solving to the helper.

    • Use open and useful questions.

    • Document the SOLE. Take notes, photos, quotes, and audio recordings. Ask participants what their experiences of the SOLE were.

  • Review - 10-20 mins

    • Find a welcoming space for the children to share their stories of collective discovery.

    • Facilitate a discussion about the question itself and their investigation process.

    • Engage the kids in their own review:

      • What would they do differently next time, both individually and collectively?

      • What did they think they or others did really well?

A key component is the question posed. Questions that are large, open, difficult and interesting often make the best ‘big’ questions for SOLE inquiries. Here is an example from Mitra’s SOLE Toolkit: