Culminating events are a longstanding tradition at Prairie Creek. Over the years, we've transformed the gym into a rain forest, built a scale model of the Great Wall of China and built a 25 foot tall mushroom (in a steady 30 mph wind). Culminating events are a lot of fun. They are a lot of work. But what are the deeper reasons we do the work?
Reason #1 - Review
We have learned a lot about space over the past five weeks. The first step we take to get ready for a culminating event is to list as much as we can about what we learned. Things are sometimes slow as we start to build our web but then the students begin to leap frog from one another's contributions. Soon the board is filled to the brim with content. Information is much more likely to be stored in long term memory if students have to access it repeatedly. Reviewing what we have learned is just the start.
Reason #2 - Synthesis
After we've reviewed everything we learned, students choose an area to teach others about. Inevitably, as they work to "find the words" to explain things, they develop a much deeper understanding of the content. I'll often watch them use their hands to show a process or relationship and then, with encouragement, they begin to express that understanding in language. This is much higher order thinking than recalling information. What is important? What do people need to know first? How do you explain the parts so that someone can understand the whole?
The orbital motion group had done an experiment to feel orbital forces but, when they went to present, they realized they couldn't really explain what was going on. They worked on how to explain gravity and in the process of working on how to explain gravity they realized they had to explain mass. Along the way, they took a side trip to learn about early gravity experiments by dropping objects of different weights from a table. This information might not get shared with every visitor to their booth, but it enhances their understanding and their ability to teach others.
Reason #3 - Research
Almost always students identify new things they need to know when they are working on teaching others. They have new questions or they realize that they are fuzzy on something and want to know more. Probably a third of the new learning in a theme is done when we are getting ready to culminate a theme. One of the most valuable things students can learn at Prairie Creek is how to ask questions and how to find answers. Getting ready for a culminating event gives them an authentic reason to hone these skills.
The Life Cycle of a Star group realized that they didn't know what a neutron star was. To learn more about it, they went back and reviewed what an atom was. They remembered that an atom was mostly space so it made sense that if a neutron star had atoms that had collapsed in on themselves a neutron star would be very, very dense (imagine compressing 1.5 times the mass of our solar system into a star 6 miles across.). They were also excited to learn about the positive charge of a proton combining with the negative charge of an electron to form a neutron.
Reason #4 - Presenting
Not all culminations involve talking to the public, but many do. Once students think they are "ready," I ask them to practice with me. I walk up to them, smile and say, "Hi!" in an encouraging way. They often stare at me, unsure of what to do next. We then practice how to engage with someone, how to begin sharing information. We practice speaking clearly and making eye contact. We work on anticipating questions and formulating answers ahead of time. Some students are more comfortable working from a script at first...others are ready to share information more organically.
For our space culmination, the students also wrote about a planet as though they were a tour guide. Early in the theme, they did research and taught each other about the planets through this tour. Then they revised their scripts so that they would work as a whole. Students have been practicing how to speak loudly, slowly and clearly. We've also talked about how to hold one's body when on stage and how to play up funny lines (hopefully this work won't be in vain!)
Reason #5 - An Authentic Reason to Learn
Teaching others is, in my opinion, one of the most authentic reasons to learn something. At Prairie Creek, we don't use tests or grades as a motivator to get students to engage with material. Instead, the opportunity and responsibility to teach others drives much of our work. Teaching gives us the opportunity to go above and beyond - to add sparkle and do extra things to make our teaching even better. The compliments and wows we get from our audience are evidence that our work is meaningful.
Reason #6 - A Community of Learners
Culminating events often spark learning in the other classes. Students learn about something and decide to do a personal project on it. Learning from culminating events is woven into themes in other classrooms when children remember information and connect it to the new things they are learning.
But even when the learning is not tied directly back into other classrooms, culminating events confirm that at Prairie Creek we learn and we are curious. Younger students see older students who are committed to teaching them (and, soon, they will have the chance to teach the older students). Everyone is asking questions. Everyone is interested. We are learners.
Family members expand this community of learners. Your curiosity and wonder models life-long learning for students. We don't learn because we have to; we learn because we want to. When you learn from your child (and, hopefully, all the other kids, too) you are telling them that they are interesting and that their ideas have value. They know things that you don't (yet). What a gift you give them when you learn from them.
So...that's why we've turned our classroom upside down this past week. That's why I was at Menards getting a laser pointer for the planetarium and at Cub getting Tang (yes, they still make Tang!). That's why we have been frantically taping and coloring and constructing. We are excited to share what we've learned but there's a lot more than that going on beneath the surface.