Genius Hour: Inquiry-Based Learning for Young Learners
How can we create structure and give young students the freedom they need to thrive while following their passions? Find out with initiatives like project- and inquiry-based learning, and genius hour!
Illustration by Edpuzzle Staff
When thinking about inquiry- and project-based learning, many educators think of older students, forgetting that the natural curiosity of young learners lends itself perfectly to the concept.
“Why’s the sky blue?” “What are dog years?” “Where do babies come from?” and a million other whys and hows pepper pk-4 classrooms all across the globe.
The question is, how can we build a bridge between natural curiosity and academic research?
Enter the genius hour: an hour in the week in which students get to explore their passions and interests by going on a quest for information on a topic of their own choosing. Students begin with a question about something they are curious about, and the rules are simple:
- The question has to have an answer not directly answered in a Google search.
- Students have to research their essential question using safe, reputable sources.
- Students need to create something to present the results of their research.
Here's how to get started!
Formulating Questions
Young children ask about 300 questions a day, so there shouldn’t be any shortage of things your students are interested in. Finding the right type of question will be easy if you follow your student’s lead.
For example, “what are the colors in the rainbow?” might interest a child, but if left to their own devices, they’ll likely ask why there are rainbows or why only certain colors are found in rainbows.
That type of inquiry and exploration provides not only a perfect foundation for Genius Hour, but also builds curious, lifelong learners.
Safe, Reputable Sources
With young and very young learners, you’ll want to set up a safe research setting. This could include a class or campus library, a kid-friendly search site or a whole/small group teacher-assisted search that would be especially helpful for pre-readers. Teacher and author, Melisa Hayes, uses Edpuzzle videos to create a browsable library for her students.
If you’re not yet familiar with Edpuzzle as a classroom resource, you can get started here.
Presentations
Remember the tri-fold and poster presentations of yesteryear? Good, now forget them!
The wonderful thing about the digital age is that students have so many opportunities to practice speaking and presenting skills:
- Live, in-class presentations
- Video shorts (think short videos on iPads, phones, etc. uploaded to Edpuzzle and then turned into interactive video lessons)
- Podcasts (yes, if your students can click a red button, they can record interviews!)
- Slide presentations
- Blogs and websites
- Multimedia presentations combining any or all of the above
Then you can share work with parents in hyperlinked newsletters or even through QR codes on your bulletin boards for parent nights.
Takeaways
If education is all about teaching students to think creatively, Genius Hours should be a part of every student’s learning experience.
Whether as a class on different aspects of a curriculum topic, in small groups or individually, the Genius Hour will help you engage young learners, teach foundational research concepts and amplify student voice and choice.
Ready to jump in? Here’s Melisa Hayes’ getting started guide!
Make sure you check out our Edpuzzle LIVE session, Student Voice and Choice for Littles, to learn more!