Musolino Minutes

Curriculum Connection:
I would not use this exact project in the classroom (too personal) however; I would make modifications to use this idea of comparison shopping with an economic unit for grades 4 and 5.   The AASL standards are all so easily embedded in the inquiry process. Specifically, 1, 2 and 3. When thinking about a specific project idea, students can research a new game, television set, or fitness equipment that they are interested in buying.  We can break down a savings plan to work with allowance money as well as use store ads and online shopping to compare price quotes.  When designing a budget, I love to introduce excel and some basic spreadsheet functions like adding the dollar amounts in a specific column.
Final products ideas are PowerPoint presentations to share findings with the class, create a glog poster sharing researched results, and/or creating a MS publisher brochure.  To match the 4^th grade global connection standard, 4.4.5, students can research where the product is made and how it is imported to the United States.  The possibilities are endless. Below are the Indiana Social Studies Standards for grades 4 and 5 that would apply.

       5.4

• Students will describe the productive resources and market relationships that influence the way people produce goods and services and earn a living in the United States in different historical periods.
• 5.4.7
• Predict the effect of changes in supply and demand on price. (Core Standard)  
• 5.4.9
• Identify the elements of a personal budget and explain why personal spending and saving decisions are important.
• 4.4.4
• Explain that prices change as a result of changes in supply and demand for specific products
• 4.4.5
• Describe Indiana’s emerging global connections.
• 4.4.8
• Define profit and describe how profit is an incentive for entrepreneurs
• .4.10
• Explain how people save, and develop a savings plan in order to make a future purchase

Wishing/ Personal Connection:

Like I mentioned in the earlier post, I am pleased with my overall learning.  This process helped me to refine my search strategies and to look at reliability of my sources.  I liked the fact that with this search, I could use sites that were straight from the manufacturer to get ideas and background knowledge before I ventured out.  That being said, the forums on many car sites helped me to negotiate a fair lease price!  The Edmunds site was amazing!  I highly recommend it for car shoppers. I expanded my horizons by looking at car trader site and lease trader sites as well.  I may never use their services, but at least I know a little more about them.

When students come into my media center, I need to remember that their background knowledge differs.  This is the main obstacle when matching students with research and materials.  I need to continue to work on the student centered reference interview to capitalize on their strengths and help them build on a weakness. 

My personal approach to inquiry is a mix of several models (Lamb, IS, REACTS, Big6, etc).  However, I find myself concentrating on the major components:  Questioning, Exploring, Assimilation, and Inference.  I find myself stronger in the first two than the last two (just like my students).  My scope of research and methods remain consistent.  That tells me how important it is to set up a strong inquiry foundation in our young learners no matter what kind of learner/student they are.

Waving:

I am planning a PowerPoint for my final communication.  I like the set up that MS PowerPoint offers as well as the options to enhance the final presentation.  When working with my 3-5 graders, PowerPoint is a great tool to help guide their presentations (same is true for adults). I will include the comparisons of 3 vehicles and where I stand in the decision-making process.  The final project will be keep private and used mainly for my husband and me to help organize the research and guide our final decision.  I am not sure many people outside of the classmates and family members that would want to read the final presentation- unless they were looking for the same type of cars. However, if I decide to make my blog public, it would be interesting to see what type of comments I could receive (wouldn’t it be great if a salesman commented with a lower offer!) Overall, I think my inquiry process was very similar to the process my students’ take- there were bumps along the road and my questions keep evolving, but I am pleased with all the new information I gained from the experience.  If my students have this same type of reflection at the end of a project, I believe it to be quite successful.