Innovation: A year (so far) with Imaginative Inquiry

Part 1

In the summer of 2017 I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Institute for Imaginative Inquiry, a four day workshop that immerses participants in the use of imaginative inquiry in the classroom. The workshop and the educators who run this professional development are amazing. It is a great way to understand what Imaginative inquiry is and how to think about implementing it with students. Everything I know about imaginative inquiry I learned at this workshop and the program I am running with students is based on what I learned at this workshop and the work of the educators who run this professional development. They have an amazing website and are hosting another Imaginative Inquiry Institute this summer.

What is Imaginative Inquiry:

“Developed in the United Kingdom, Imaginative Inquiry is an approach based on the idea that children’s imagination is our greatest resource in the classroom, placing it center stage as a powerful tool for learning. Within a community of inquiry, teachers and students create exciting and meaningful contexts for learning, using conventions of theatre—such as point of view, tension, and narrative—to explore curricular objectives. Students are not merely passive observers of the stories of our world, but are collectively invited to take action in the realm of possibility that Imaginative Inquiry provides.” - Institute for Imaginative Inquiry Website

After the workshop I set out to use this practice with my third grade students. The idea of a year long curriculum that connected to the central topic that the students study in their classroom was really appealing. I wanted the work that we do in the ILIS, Integrated Learning and Information Sciences Department (a combined library and ed tech department) to make deeper connections with the classroom work, as well as be a year long experience that culminated with a in depth project at the end of the year that connected to work done throughout the year.

My third graders study the history of the City of Chicago, starting with a study of the Ojibwe People who have lived around the Great Lakes for generations, the settlement and building of the City of Chicago, and the current City of Chicago, especially the unique neighborhoods throughout the city. When I was looking at the curriculum I wanted to find an idea or theme that we would be able to tackle in our ILIS time, two periods a week, and also would be an engaging and exciting topic for students to look at. I decided the focus of innovation in transportation would be a good topic and one that would fit with the other work and study the students were doing in their classrooms. The idea was to have students look at the birchbark canoe, an innovative use of materials and a transportation systems used by the Ojibwe People, the elevated train system that was an innovative public transportation system introduced to Chicago in 1892, and the current transportation systems in the city including Divvy bikes. The final challenge that the students would be presented with is to design a transportation system for the future Chicago, the designs would pull from positive aspects of innovation they learned from the past, and also thinking about sustainability and equity of access to all member of the community.

Now that I had a theme and plan for the year long study of innovation, my next step was the plan to introduce the idea to the students and get them excited and engaged in the project by using some of the techniques I learned at the Institute for Imaginative Inquiry. The idea was to use a technique that the teachers at the institute used with their students, a secret mission from a mysterious Agent X. The students would receive communication from Agent X that would deliver information and challenges to the students. The idea is that students become the drivers of the inquiry and the direction of the project because the information is being supplied by the mysterious Agent X, students need to make decisions, figure out what to do and determine the direction of the research and challenges. I provided the information and the direction for the challenges but when students asked questions I turned it back on them, what did they think they should do, giving them ownership. Also the mystery of Agent X, the letters and challenges that  would come when students weren’t expecting it and the excitement of it all was a great way to hook the students and keep them engaged throughout the school year.

Agent X

Students were introduced to Agent X when a mysterious envelope arrived addressed to the 3rd Grade. Inside the envelope was a flyer looking for applications for secret agents. Students read the wanted flyer and discussed if they wanted to apply for the mission. Students asked the question if everyone would be included and they decided that either everyone in the class was accepted as secret agents for the mission or no one would take part. We all agreed that was a good plan. Next students wrote out their scripts for the application video, focusing on what qualities they had that would make them good secret agents. They uploaded their videos to Google Drive and waited to hear if they had been accepted into the mission!

Up Next... Mission 1.