Inquiry based, collaborative projects have many benefits for your students and your classroom. Here is a collaborative Google Slides project you can do with your class this year.
Why Should I Use Collaborative, Inquiry Based Projects in my Classroom?
In the last few posts, I’ve been sharing all about how you can use the principles of IB education in your classroom, even if you’re not an IB educator. These ideas and principles help our students grow as learners and people, and hopefully will help us and them make the world a better place.
Not sure what I’m talking about? I recommend reading these posts first for some background information:
- What is Global Citizenship and Why Should I Care?
- All About the IB Learner Profile (and why it’s worth focusing on)
- Simple Ways to Make Your Lessons More Meaningful
Last time I shared an inquiry based collaborative project that focused on researching why questions about animals. You can read about that and grab the free template right here.
Today’s project is another great addition to your classroom. Let’s dive right into how it works, and then you can grab the free template at the end of this post.
Collaborative Cause Inquiry Project
How to Complete this Inquiry Project
In this project, students work collaboratively in groups of two or three to pick a cause, do some research, and most importantly, take action.
1. Brainstorm
Start off the lesson by brainstorming as a class. Come up with a list of different causes or problems that students are interested in. These causes or problems can be school related, local, or global. It’s really up to you and your class and the specifications you want to pick. It could be something simple like “the swing on the playground is broken” or “there’s so much litter in our neighborhood”. It could be more complex like “there are many animals that don’t have homes” or “there was a recent natural disaster in another country”.
2. Group
Once you’ve brainstormed potential focuses for the collaborative projects, students can group together based on causes or issues they are interested in. Once students join a group, they’ll work together to complete their inquiry.
3. Research Your Inquiry Topic
Next, students will research their topic. They can research in books, newspapers, interviewing students or teachers if it’s a school related problem, and of course use the internet.
4. Complete Your Google Slides Inquiry Log
As students are working together in their groups, they can complete their inquiry log. This free template will help them track their learning and make decisions about how they can best take action. Within the researching and completing their log, students will develop a plan to help their cause, and then take action. This is one reason that it might be good to encourage students to focus on something school related or within the local community. After students take action, they will add how their action turned out in their long.
5. Present Your Learning Learning
Lastly, students can present their learning to their peers. The most simple way they can do this is to use their inquiry log slides to share their research, action, and findings with the class.
Free Collaborative Cause Project Template
This simple inquiry project is a great way to show students that they can make an impact on the world. It also build strong communication and teamwork skills. It might even help to make your school and community a better place. You can find the ready to go template for this project in my free resource library for email subscribers. Click the picture below to access it if you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, enter your email below, and then check your email for the password once you confirm.
