Introduction to Physical Knowledge Action Research Project

ECE 630 Physical Knowledge Action Research Project      
Beth Haynes
Day One

Explain: The population for my Action Research project is 4 Kindergarten students in a suburban school setting. The group consists of two girl and two boys all age 5. One student is an English Language Learner.
“Brandon”- Caucasian male, age 5
“Jeremy”- Latino male, age 5, Spanish as primary language
“Autumn”- African-American female, age 5
“Kendall”, Caucasian female, age 5

Why are you completing this project?
I am completing this project as a requirement for ECE 630 to learn more about Piaget’s Theory of Constructivism. This Action Research Project is an opportunity to observe children constructing knowledge through play and exploration with ramps and pathways.

What are your learning goals?
My learning goals are:

• To observe children constructing knowledge through experiences. 
• To further explore how children learn and grow cognitively through play.
• To observe how children construct knowledge through building on their schema. 
• To learn questioning that promotes children’s learning as a facilitator with a focus on “asking and not telling”.
• To create authentic learning experiences that are child centered and promote critical thinking skills. 
• To explore adaptive processes and the Stages of Cognitive Development.
• To effectively create lessons that promote active learning, focus on the process, developmentally appropriate, incorporate questioning, and are collaborative learning experiences .                             

How will you reach them?
I will reach these goals by:

• Working with a small group of students using ramps and one marble.
• Introducing the expectations for using the materials and establishing boundaries for safety, cooperation, thinking, and problem solving. 
• Giving children a chance to explore the materials before the project begins.
• Assessing the students understanding and prior knowledge by asking questions.
• Posing “challenges” with effective questioning as a facilitator in the learning process.
• Allowing time for constructing knowledge through the exploration of ramps and buildings over a ten day time frame.
• Examining the role of teacher as facilitator by asking questions and interacting with students rather than “telling students what to do”. 
• Exploring language used by student in connection to their schema in order to pose questions that promote critical thinking and problem solving.Day one experiences included discussion and questioning as well as exploration of the materials.

Day One: Exploration of materials. The students were given a chance to play and try out the new materials.