Slowing down to learn well: Junior School researchers

The Sokratis Research project is now in its second year as a year-long, passion-based research experience for Pymble students from Year 7 to 11. Last year, the Junior School version – Sokratis Junior – also commenced and is now in full swing as an opportunity for our younger students to extend their research skills.

Sokratis Junior is the brainchild of the Deputy Academic of the Junior School, Lara Bird, with specialist support from our Junior and Middle Years Inquiry Learning Leader, Sarah Colquhoun and Director of the Pymble Institute, Dr Sarah Loch. Organising a co-curricular, open-ended research program for Year 4 to 6 students presents challenges that do not arise in the same way for older students and adult researchers but, by making research visible, the Junior Sokratis team are seeing the benefits of stepping students more slowly through the early stages of the process.

The project’s theme is sustainability and all students are selecting topics and developing research questions relating to this domain. Students’ research questions include, ‘How can we remove plastic from the ocean?’; How can education be a way of reducing poverty?’; and ‘What would happen if we stopped recycling?’ The team agrees that students are gaining value from taking more gradual steps into their understanding the field and they are being very intentional about what they wish to ask. There is more confidence in students’ willingness to rewrite their research questions and less expectation for instantaneous results. The team have noticed students using synonyms, varied search terms and being more open to trying different ways of searching for information, rather than sticking with the first thing that comes to mind.

An important concern in creating inquiry and research opportunities for younger students is they may need to access internet sites which may be unhelpful and even inappropriate. In Sokratis Junior, we decided to maximise the use of books from the College library, with online material as supplementary. For children who have grown up with search engines at their finger tips, the skills of selecting and evaluating websites for their quality and relevance takes longer to develop, however students are now showing more interest in discerning whether a site really helps them with their question.

The process of note-making is another area in which the Sokratis Junior team is seeing changes. Using the curated resources, students are more confidently capturing the information related to their question, rather than the general topic and are gaining skills in both reading and assessing the value of the information. The back-and-forth process of brainstorming with the teachers is helping students develop their field of knowledge, introduce more key terms, confirm spelling and extend understanding. This all results in more critical thought and more confidence in the process of inquiry – a fundamental aspect of research.

Sokratis Junior culminates in a showcase where students create a display of artefacts, posters, models and hands-on activities to communicate their research to an audience of peers, teachers and parents.