I just read one teacher's story of how she used the Patterns of Thinking on a field trip to the local nature center. In talking with the kids about what they learned, she "was really shocked and surprised by their answers."The teacher took another set of 1st-graders on an identical field trip the day before. But on Day Two, she gave the Guiding Questions a try. "The first graders I interviewed with the patterns-of-thinking questions made connections I’ve never had students make. I even had one draw out the relationship between frogs and plants (one starts as a tadpole, one starts as a seed and they both change)."
Students learned more from the experience as a result of her quick thinking. "This was my 6th year to go on this very field trip," Organized Chaos wrote, "And thanks to the patterns of thinking questions it is the first year I realized there was an overarching theme of natural changes."
What a nice piece of accidental Action Research! If you're ready to give the Guiding Questions a shot, they're bundled at the bottom of this page with many other Patterns of Thinking resources. Enjoy!
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