Discovering the wonders of geodes and learning what works and what doesn’t was part of the outcome of a young student’s inquiry-based project, which was determined at his goal setting conference.
As many know, a part of SD83’s new elementary school reporting process is a goal setting conference with the student, parents and teacher taking part.
Earlier this school year, a Sorrento Elementary grade 3 student Rhyas Hunt, along with his parents and teacher Christine Blacklock, held his conference.
It was agreed that Rhyas was making good progress in numeracy and literacy and social domains. Therefore, the decision was to make more of an extension goal and let Rhyas present an inquiry of his choice at the end of January.
His first idea was clocks and how they work, but after briefly looking into that and being inspired by a Christmas present, he changed topics to geodes. He wanted to crack one open and see what it looked like and then he started doing experiments on them.
“I tried to make geodes and discovered that the metallic pipe cleaners made better ones than the non-metallic. Cracking the geodes was hard. My dad helped me with a hammer and chisel to open it once I weakened it. I learned how geodes are made, how to crack them open, and where to find them in the world,” Rhyas reported.
Rhyas recently presented the individually created and planned project to his classmates. When asked what he learned about presenting to a class he said, “You have to get a lot of stuff to do it, to present properly.”
“He set his mind on wanting to learn more about rocks and geodes, and his project was wonderful,” said Sorrento Elementary School Principal Jodi Garries.
Assistant Superintendent Carl Cooper commented that students, parents and teachers have all noted that one of the best parts of the new district reporting process for elementary schools is the goal setting conference. “The ability of students, parents and teachers to have a face-to-face communication about each specific child, and focus on their learning and their goal setting is impactful. Young Rhyas is one great example of this.”
Garries added the project also has a nice connection to the new curriculum’s core competency of creative and critical thinking,
Read more about the new core competencies here