The Lighthouse Diary Entry #26: Cornerstones of Research

I am part of the team assigned for the supervision and mentoring of juniors who will begin the Extended Essay and Senior Project (EE/SP) this year. Much thought was spent on the planning of the kick-off and presentation to students since we are all experiencing the difficulties and challenges of learning during the pandemic. As a school who believes in Conceptual Learning and Constructivism, we take into consideration the contexts, experiences, interests and attitude of our learners. As teachers and educators, we are learners too. That is why, when we set out the launching of this years EE/SP journey, there is a spark of hope and a clearer vision on what we need to accomplish by February 2022. It is important that students complete the EE or the SP with joy and a sense of self worth. 

To prepare for this goal, my part is to lay the foundations for inquiry based on the Research Cycle (RC) as guide in the journey. The RC is also a technique to chunk a big writing project such as the EE/SP into its relevant parts. There are three important things happening during the inquiry phase which are, selecting a topic of interest - one that the student is really passionate about; activating prior knowledge which would entail brainstorming leading to the formulation of questions; and doing initial research or primary readings. In the end, a student shall be poised to craft a research questions as well as a plan to undergo his or her investigation.

Within this phase of inquiry, the library can lend valuable support and teaching sessions for individual students, small groups or big group sizes. Having set up a Research Skills Center on Google Site last year, I now have a platform for asynchronous activities and a space where students can choose a research skill to learn, to review or to strengthen. This was introduced to students like a menu they can choose from. 

Another strategy we used for thinking through the inquiry phase is the KWL Chart. This is more of a warm up session. The real thinking begins when the Inquiry Chart is introduced midway of the inquiry phase. The Inquiry Chart is an expanded KWL Chart where initial research and primary readings are recorded alongside the building of a working bibliography. It is a lot to take for a junior facing his or her first academic paper. It is for this reason that a team of mentors, guides and teachers are part of their journey.