Connect
The Connect Stage:
In this stage the children get the opportunity to relate their previous related knowldege as well as their previous experiences to make connections with the new content they are learning.
It allows children to make links between their previous knowledge and experience so the content is more meaningful to them.
We think this stage is really important as it gives the children a starting point to their inquiries and explorations, setting them up for participating in an interesting and beneficial inquiry process by exploring their prior knowledge on the topic and their connections with the topic in general making the learning more meaningful for them overall.
"tasks should as far as possible be challenging and be related to the pupils real life experiences." (Greenwood et al., 2020, p.2)
" Learners construct their own knowledge and understanding and can be aided and motivated by teaching approaches that begin with the learners' prior learning." (Bacon,2018,p.1)
What We Will Explore With The Children In The Connection Stage.
Previous related Knowledge or prior understandings.
Their own experiences with rain in their daily lives.
Our Class Approach:
In this stage we would explore questions with the class such as:
What connections and memories do you have associated with rain? We as the teachers would model this by sharing with the class some of the connections we have with rain everyday and some profound memories with rain. For example: Teacher: 'everytime it rains at our house my dog drinks the water from the puddles instead of drinking out of his water bowl."
We then would allow the children to discuss their own memories or connections associated with rain with their partner.
We then would create a class mentimeter word cloud with the childrens connections associated with rain in it,so that the children can see the variety of connections we have as a class with rain.
Previous Related Knowledge: We would take the same approach with the class when discussing what they already know about rain and why they think rain is important, by allowing children to brainstorm their ideas with their partners and then add their ideas to a class padlet, so they can discuss their previous related knowledge as a class and come back to this at the end of their inquiry so they can build on this knowledge and form new connections.
What do you already know about rain?
Join our padlet using our QR code or link to let us know your prior knowledge!
Why we chose Padlet as a tool to determine and display the childrens Previous Related Knowledge:
Padlet is an online notice board, which provides children with a platform in which they can share and combine their ideas based on a certain topic.
Padlet allows children to develop their creativity and critical thinking skills while also allowing them to become more familiar with how technology can help them and develop their technological skills .
It allows children to "recognise what they already know and the wide range of information available to them." (Professional Development Service for teachers, n.d., p.3).
It is a great way for children to make a collage of what they know about a topic and compare their brainstorms and points of information with other children in the class, prior to them conducting their investigations.
We also chose this resource as padlet has an excellent feature, in which it saves the children's inputs automatically, this is great for children to look back on at the end of their inquiries or explorations so they can discuss what they have learned and possibly develop further questions.
Join Our Mentimeter using the QR code and tell us about your connections with rain. 🌧
Why did we chose Mentimeter as a tool at this stage:
Menitmeter is a great online tool which allows children to add their ideas into a word cloud while illustrating to the students the biggest answer or question the class has in common.
This allows the students to discuss this overall view and make connections with other children's ideas in the class based on their prior experiences.
Mentimeter allows us as teachers to view childrens connections and experiences of rain in real time so we can see how children are participating and engaging at this stage of the inquiry process.
Allowing the children to use mentimeter such as the brainstorm or word cloud feature at this stage enables children to be involved in their learning experiences while also learning from each other's ideas and experiences.
Curriculum Links 🖇 - Further connections we could explore with the children based on the Curriculum.
Where the exploration of rain and its function links with the curriculum so children can make connections with the content they are learning:
Formation:
Geography - Natural Environments: Weather, Climate and Atmosphere.
Maths- Algebra- directed numbers- "Identify postive and negative numbers in context."(NCCA,1999,p.94)- exploring the effect of temperature change and its impact on the stages of the water cycle.
Function:
Science- Living Things- Human life, Plants and Animals.
Geography- Natural Environments- Rocks and Soils.
English- Oral language and Reading- Reading literacy based texts to research the functions of rain and discuss findings. ( for example ‘Rain’ by Manya Stojic and ‘The Rhythm of Rain’ by Graham Backer Smith– Epic Reading).
Causation:
Science- Energy and Forces- Investigating the role light has to play in other weather events as a result of rain. Eg: Rainbows.
History-Working as a Historian- Cause and effect, Change and Continuity.- Exploring the effect of natural disasters caused by rain. (EG: floods, landslides/ mudslides and waterlogging.)
Geography- Human Environments: Natural Environmental Features and People.- (The impact of excessive or inadequate amounts of rain on human environments. Eg: flooding, or lack of crop growth.)
