Making sense of their worlds by generating and refining working theories | te rangahau me te mātauranga’ (Te Whāriki: Exploration/Mana aotūroa)
This afternoon, we found the answer to our inquiry question – why are turtle so slow?
Today we decided to choose a question from inquiry rakau/tree in our Puāwai room. This special tree is where we put any thoughts, questions, or wonders from our tamariki on leaves and stick it to our tree. The kaiako are there to not provide the answers, but to guide the thought and research process.
05.06.2024 – Today we chose Rose’s question – Why are turtles so slow? In the afternoon, we gathered together on the mat and started by brainstorming what we already knew about turtles, what prior knowledge we already had. Our tamariki had so many wonderful thoughts and knowledge about turtles from where they live, to what they eat, and what body parts they have (shell).
We then started another brainstorm of hypothetical ideas as to why turtles are slow. This proved a little harder to think of, however the general idea seemed to be that it was due to turtles carrying their shells alongside some other ideas such as, ‘their flippers make them slow’ – ‘they eat too much and get full’ – ‘Something around their blood’ – ‘there’s something on their tummy’.
Kaiako Tash, got some books out from the library to help start our research. As we read the books, kaiako Tash would pause to discuss any new facts that we heard were learning about. At the end of the book, the tamariki were then asked to share something new that they had learnt.
Kaiako Tash set up a little turtle exploration table. This included some research fact books about turtles and a turtle puzzle. On a tray there was some sand, another small dish with blue water in it and 3 small turtles and a bigger turtle.
This afternoon, we found the answer to our inquiry question – why are turtle so slow? Kaiako Tash began by asking again if there were any more information about turtles that the group would like to share. It was amazing to see just how much learning and retaining of all the new information has happened in the last few weeks! We then watched a small clip and the tamariki were asked to say when to stop when they heard the answer to our question. At the beginning of the clip the narrator was comparing a turtle to a cheetah and then to a snail. We made a tally chart for everyone to make their vote of which they think would be faster. They all eagerly listened intently and carefully not to miss out, when Elsie suddenly called out “their shells are too heavy!” And that they’re not made for speed. We also learnt that turtles have a slow metabolic rate and don’t need to rush for food. A metabolic rate is the process of chemical cells in bodies that change food into energy.
We found our answer! What a great achievement by our wonderful tamariki who participated in our inquiry learning.