Rationale
These lessons mark the crossing of Mosston's "Discovery Threshold" where upon the students are able to own their own learning experience. Students are now discovering their own way to learn and build on what they have already learned (constructivism).
These two classes well also get students into CARSA climbing gym where upon they will be engaged in a "real" indoor bouldering setting. Students will now use what they have previously learned in order to: learn different climbing styles, create routes, and utilize footholds. Through using Inquiry questions to get students critically considering all these new objectives I as the teacher will be enabling them more independence and allowing the students to "own their learning".
Inquiry Implementation
Implementation: Teacher may vary questions to suit student’s different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy based on a constructivist approach to human learning (see, Rink chapter 2).
Questioning skills are vital for teacher to have:
Question level (pre, during, post impact questions)
Type of questions (convergent questions = find right answer, divergent questions = other
possible solutions)
Wait time: Ideal time is 5-8 seconds for student to come up with answer
Probes: Get student to clarify what to do “how far will you go on the run?”
Get new information “how else would that effect your run?”
Redirect flow aka student is wrong and get them on track “that’s nearly there but try again.”
ASK NOT TELL
In any task there should be enough equipment so that no one has to take turns. This will limit the amount or flow of one's learning.
Lesson 6 Tasks
Culminating activity: Identify and create routes
Foothold usage work sheets
Link native animals to climbing styles (peer review)
Create climbing routes
Students will have to think of different holds and moves that they would like to integrate on their climbing route. These routes will all be individual based and can be done on the ground with the holds. Or on the wall using existing holds.
Using open ended questions to challenge kids notions of body movements upon each hold will get them considering the possibilities and rational behind their climbing.
This task will also allow the teacher to evaluate where the students have progressed along Bloom's taxonomy. This will then allow the teacher and student to create new goals and "check-in" with each student upon crossing the "threshold".
Climbing route Inquiry Questions
What move would be the hardest of all these moves on the wall?
- checking in with different movement techniques. "holds are really far away which means the climber has to be really strong"
How could you make this route more difficult?
- By adding different type of holds to force more difficult moves
What type of climber would find this route hard?
- "Squirrel" climber or a "bear" climber (see animal climbers)
Animal climbers
Students will be given by the teacher different cards that express different climbing characteristics. Such as "fast, quick, not very balanced/ slow, strong, cautious". Students will then have to give the climbing style a native animal name such as Black Bear, or Brown squirrel. They then have to demonstrate this climbing style through a charades type game at the end of the class. There will only be four different types of animals so students will get to peer review one another who have the same animal.
This links different human bodies and human preferences into animal forms and allows students to try climbing in different styles. Thus they can create a new form of climbing that they will engage with more since it's not their own nor based off of a peer.