Central Ideas
Crafting a good Central Idea is hard work! The Central Idea is the big idea that guides the inquiry. As teachers, we work on these throughout the year, often tweaking or modifying them in order to best represent the concepts we are wanting to explore.
Part of The Passion Project requires the creation of a guiding Central Idea. We chose to do this in groups as it should be an over-arching idea from which different inquiries may evolve.
Our students were grouped according to like-minded passions and set the task of creating their Central Idea. What evolved from that task was an extraordinary high level of understanding, cooperation, discussion and collaboration from all students.
The following is from the post written on our class blog at the conclusion of the Central Idea day:
Crafting a Central Idea...
Today was one of those great days that remind me why I love being a teacher. I love that actually, this is something I say pretty regularly after a day working with your kids - they are amazing people.
Our focus today was on our Central Idea.
In order to help the children understand the process that we teachers go through in creating a Central Idea, we asked Mr. Lindsay to join Brad and myself in a 'fishbowl' exercise. We were 'in' the fishbowl and the class sat around and listened and observed what was going on inside the bowl. The 'glass bowl' separated us so they couldn't participate in our conversation, just observe. We 'thought out loud' the process as we shared our similar passions and worked collaboratively on a Central Idea.
After debriefing the experience and highlighting what worked and what didn't, we released the class into their Passion Groups - groups of 3-6 students who share similar passions. Their task: create a central idea that embodies the big picture ideas of everyone in your group.
A short time later, we reassembled to share the Central Ideas. I know how hard this job of crafting a good Central Idea is and I have to be honest, my expectations were not that high. We were blown away with what they came up with. Seriously. The thoughtfulness, insight and language skills your child has - phenomenal.
This task did a couple of really great things:
- it bonded the groups together
- it emphasized the importance of a central idea being able to be interpreted in different ways
- it has really boosted the confidence of everyone in the group
All members of each group will share the same Central Idea that will then be personalized through the next step: the Lines of Inquiry.
We have dedicated the notice board outside of Brad's Room for our exhibition board. Each group has a colored strip of paper that serves as their 'section' of the board. Each group has been asked to display their:
- Central Idea
- Group members
- The mentors for each member
- The mentor meeting times for each member
- Any other relevant information
Here are the Central Ideas for each group:
Group: Olivia, Callay, Thomas, Revi
Central Idea: Sound and movement provoke and sustain our learning and creativity while providing a way for us to contribute to the community.
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Group: Laurel, Ian, Jordan, Ben, Anwen
Central Idea: People’s creativity and imagination provoke and sustain their learning and thinking while providing a way for them to contribute to the community.
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Group: Drew, Grant, Tommy, Adam, Bobby, Maggie
Central Idea: People’s investment and cooperation in team sports help provoke and sustain their passion and learning while helping them contribute and learn new things within their community.
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Group: Maryana, Kana, Lilly, Nicole, Ethan, Grace
Central Idea: Creativity can provoke and sustain our learning and curiosity while providing a way to contribute to the community through imagination and active learning.
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Group: Orion, Victoria, Holden, Patrick
Central Idea: People’s explorations change their view of the world and open a way for them to contribute to the community and themselves.
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Group: Sarah, Audrey, Anna
Central Idea: If you are caring and passionate about what you do, you can achieve goals, learn new things and contribute to the community.
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Each person has now crafted their first line of inquiry that they want to inquire into:
