LEARNING EXPERIENCES: "Investigations"

The teachers and students at KOCO investigate topics  of interest throughout the school year. In lieu of a traditional lesson plan, each class decides what they already Know about a particular topic, discuss what they Want to know about the topic, and then they devise learning experiences to help them Learn (K-W-L model). Topics for early childhood investigations are ideally quite simple; recent investigations topics have included Hands, Apples, Balls, and Shoes.  

Ideas generated by each "investigation" are webbed collaboratively; the web becomes a "living document", to be added to, changed, and otherwise revised as the investigation progresses. Students control the depth and length of each investigation (topics of great interest may generate investigations of a month or more!).

Visit Eastern Connecticut State University's Center for Early Childhood Education to learn more about Investigations-style learning experiences.