1. Key highlights from your Topic Exploration and some key questions for inquiry within the topic.
In the world full of social diversity, education should keep up with times to promote multiculturalism, helping students learn knowledge, values, cultures from different social communities and strengthen cosmopolitan perspectives working for equality and social justice. Students should be allowed to interpret their own perspectives based on their personal experiences in their homes and their own cultures. Students are encouraged to have interactions with their peers from diverse racial and ethnic groups, assisting them to build good relationships. In Canada, due to the residential school and colonization of the land, the language and cultures of indigenous people are minimized or even tending to be lost. In the society with diversity and multiculturalism, indigenous cultures should be equally treated and known by other people. Therefore, I want to study with my students about the importance of multiculturalism in this project and three significant indigenous traditions will be mainly taught as examples to comprehend multiculturalism: hand drum, pine needle basket and traditional plants. The final goal of my teaching is to guide students to have fair, positive, respectful attitudes towards social diversity, to understand the significance of multiculturalism. Four workshop activities will be hold in this project. This is a study in social studies curriculum. It is designed for students in Grade 3 in Canada, following the principles of BC curriculum.
Some key questions for inquiry from topic exploration:
1.What’s difference between social diversity and multiculturalism?
2.Why does oppression or riot exist in some places?
3.Do you have any examples about prejudice or discrimination you would like to share?
4.Why do indigenous people have cultural practices such as hand drumming and pine needle basket making?
5.Do you have any traditions, customs or beliefs from your backgrounds you want to share?
6. According to the traditional plants experiences, what do you think of indigenous people’s views of sustainable development of environment?
7.How to keep a harmonious social environment at school or even in society?
2. A description and broad strokes plan for your proposed Inquiry Project, along with questions that you may have about the proposed project.
This inquiry project is the workshop that is held once a week. Time for the first workshop is 90 mins teaching and there is a 20 mins break (for instance, from 3:00pm-3:45pm and then from 4:05pm-4:50pm). Time for other three workshops is 60 mins (for instance, from 3:00pm-4:00pm) respectively. The maximum of students coming to the workshop is 20. Once they sign up, they need to attend 4 workshops in total held respectively at weekend. One workshop is held in classroom and three workshops are outside activities off campus.
In the first workshop, the instructor and students get together in a multimedia classroom. The concepts of social diversity and multiculturalism are respectively demonstrated by videos. Next students are divided into several groups and share the identities, values or beliefs within their own backgrounds; then students have a discussion on their understandings of social diversity based on sharing. Then, a debate about whether it is good to advocate “English Only” at school is conducted. After the debate, students have reflections on the significance of multiculturalism in society. Homework: every student draws a picture (they can also use some photos from the internet and paste them on the paper) to show their understandings of multiculturalism. Some key words or short sentences can be written on it. Assessment will be made according to class performances and homework.
In the second workshop, students go to the grass ground. Indigenous people are invited to show hand drum performances. After the hand drum performance, students will learn why indigenous people do the hand drumming (the spiritual connection that indigenous people have with hand drumming, ancestors, and their motherland) by storytelling. Besides, the negative effects of colonization and anti-cultural assimilation will be told. Then, students have a discussion about the significance of hand drum to indigenous people and their opinions on cultural assimilation. Next, students share some meaningful things they would like to do to show their connections to their hometown. For homework: all students will make a short video of themselves to verbally interview their parents or elders about the traditions or customs or religions within their backgrounds. Class performances and this homework will be assessed.
In the third workshop, indigenous people teach students how to make a pine needle basket in the local community. At the beginning, indigenous people introduce the history of it first; then students are divided into several groups and they have an initial try on making a very small pine needle basket with their group members guided by indigenous people. They might not finish the basket making but the further step will move on when time is up. Next, teacher requires students to think about why some arts or traditions or cultures are lost in the world and how we can preserve them from being lost. They talk with their group members and answer these questions. Then, teacher guides students to know the influence that multiculturalism might have to the culture protection. When the workshop is over, students will be given materials which can be taken to home to make a mini pine needle basket if they want. Homework: students are divided into several groups. Every group seeks one losing culture and finds some photos or a video or a short article of it. Class performances and group homework will be assessed.
In the fourth workshop, teacher and students go to a garden. Students will learn some traditional plants through storytelling when walking in the garden. Students share their feeling about the walking experience in the garden. Then they go to a media room to watch some videos of using traditional plants to make medicine, food or juice. Indigenous people’s perspectives on traditional plants and the relationship with the nature they propose will be introduced. A discussion about the meaning of traditional plants to indigenous people will be conducted. Students are divided into several groups and each group shows their ideas by the brainstorm drawing on the paper. This group work will be assessed.
However, to carry out this proposed inquiry project, there might be some issues or difficulties. Three outdoor activities are included in the project, which means some potential security issues that teachers need to consider. One teacher is not enough to take care of many children at the same time. Except the teacher who educates students, we also need some other teachers to look after children when having outdoor activities. Making pine needle basket needs needle, so there might be danger when children use it carelessly. If children hurt their fingers or other parts of the body, it will be the problems that teachers need to deal with. Thus when we do this activity, we have to be very cautious. Besides, now we don’t know whether indigenous people and local community have time to support our activities about hand drum and pine needle basket. Whether we will find a suitable garden to see those traditional plants is uncertain now. If the weather is not good like raining, we may postpone the outdoor activities.
3. A short list of the appropriate Learning Principles from BC Curriculum for Grade 3 students in social studies
Core Competencies
Three core competencies are required: communication, thinking, personal & social. Positive interactions and collaborations with peers are the communication skills students should have. Creative and critical thinking needs to be developed. Students are trained to have personal awareness, positive and cultural identity, social awareness and responsibility.
Big Ideas
Indigenous knowledge is passed down through traditions. Learning about indigenous peoples nurtures multicultural awareness and respect for diversity. Indigenous societies throughout the world value the well-being of the self, the land, spirits, and ancestors.
Learning Standards for Curriculum Competencies
Students use social studies inquiry to ask questions, interpret and analyze ideas. Compare the changes or differences; explain why people’s beliefs, values, worldviews, experiences, and roles give them different perspectives on people, places, issues, or events; recognize implicit and explicit ethical judgments.
Learning Standards for Curricular Content
Traditions as evidence about past First Peoples cultures. Relationship between humans and their environment.
First Peoples Principles for Learning
First peoples promote experiential learning in social studies curriculum. One of the major curricular competencies in the new curriculum is comparing different perspectives, which will include the consideration of indigenous knowledge and consideration of First Peoples memory and stories. Learners can acquire knowledge through storytelling.
4. An explanation of your current understandings of inquiry-based pedagogy related to your topic and proposed project
Inquiry-based pedagogy requires teachers and students study together with meaningful interactions like discussion, storytelling, problem-solving and field practice through digital technologies, multiple media and learning activities (Buckner& Kim, 2014; Khalaf, 2018) to produce sophisticated and deeper understanding of knowledge that they acquire and to create a more engagement learning environment (Friesen & Scott, 2013; Justice, Rice, Roy, Hudspith & Jenkins, 2009).
In my project design, students have discussion about their understanding of social diversity, multiculturalism, and indigenous traditions. Storytelling is reflected in workshop activity: students will learn the significance of doing hand drum, the history of pine needle basket and the meaning of traditional plants through stories. Students are going to learn those traditions by experiential learning. These methods involve the field practice and media use, which create the effective learning environment for students to have a better understanding of multiculturalism.
The places for inquiry are flexible. Learning should not be limited in the classroom. Outdoor activities are beneficial for students to improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being (Maltais, 2020). In this project, students not only study in the classroom, but also go to the grass ground, local community and garden to learn indigenous traditions and understand the meaning of multiculturalism.
Some experts need to be invited to help students better involve in the learning process and assessment from teachers and students will be carried out to evaluate the learning outcomes (Friesen & Scott, 2013). Indigenous people are the experts who show hand drum and teach students how to make a pine needle basket in this project. Students’ performances during the class learning are assessed. Homework and group work are assessed.
Rewards are suggested instead of punishments (Clifford & Friesen, 2003). Students will be given some gifts as the rewards for excellent work.
To present a brilliant inquiry project, applying “design thinking” is very significant for teachers. Teachers need to make some innovative changes by taking what students and parents’ needs and want to design the teaching contents and process (Clark, 2020). Generally, this project breaks the traditional rules of teaching in the classroom by textbooks. Outdoor activities are adopted to have experiential learning, which is the innovation. Students like going outside and handmade practice. Parents want their children to be physically and mentally healthy. Hence, in my project design, students have chances to acquire knowledge outside the classroom. During this process, students will enjoy the experiential education; their physical and mental health will be enhanced by some interesting, relaxed outdoor activities.