Curiosity Project Book

Description

The Curiosity Project Book is ideal for topic work; it is a template for children aged 8-16 to explore and delve deeper into any topic that they are interested in.

The Curiosity Project Book allows children to have total freedom and complete control over their learning journey. We have purposefully designed it this way. They simply choose a topic that really interests them and use the learning prompts to complete their project. Our aim is that it inspires a thirst for knowledge, fosters self-motivated learning and encourages independence.

The Curiosity Project Book has been designed to largely be a ‘blank canvas’. We’d love your child to add to borders, to doodle as they think, to colour in their pictures and add whatever creative splashes of colour they feel like. It is theirs to personalise and we hope this gives them a sense of ownership and pride in their work.  The activities can be completed in any order but it would make sense to end with the presentation once your child has had a good chance to fully explore their topic.

Children begin by choosing a topic and creating their title page. They then explore what they already know and think about what they would like to find out about with a mind map. Once they have gathered half a dozen or so relevant books and/or magazines they begin their activities.

Amongst other things children will record important facts from their texts, do detailed focus studies of things that capture their interests, create a quiz, prepare an interview for an expert and examine important vocabulary. They should (if possible) plan and take a trip linked to their project and follow it up with a host of activities. These include scrapbook style pages for photos and mementos, recounting their day and picking out/presenting what they learnt. You could consider taking a virtual trip if it would be more appropriate for their chosen topic.

As well as using their printed resources, children will be encouraged to watch a relevant documentary and review it. They will be guided through using the internet as a research tool, with explanations of cross-checking, skim-reading and note taking. Children will also have opportunities to draw detailed diagrams, consider a debate and conduct a survey. They can design a word search, produce a poster about an important issue/aspect and create cartoon characters for use in a comic strip to educate others. Throughout their project children are invited and encouraged to give their opinions and feedback in a variety of ways. They will also find a few blank pages near the end of the project in case they think of something they’d like to do that isn’t already included.

Their project will culminate with them preparing a presentation themed around their topic (there are several suggestions of the form this could take). Once completed, the project book becomes a great resource for children to use going forward. They will be able to refer back to it and because they created it, it will feel more relevant than a shop bought book. It’s also a lovely keepsake of their project work for the year.

What’s inside the Curiosity Project Book?

Your child will:

Learn how to skim-read, cross-check and note take for their research
Create a mind map
Use scrapbook techniques to record their findings artistically
Be encouraged to use the internet as a research tool
Draw detailed diagrams about their topic of choice
Use step-by-step processes to explore their topic
Conduct a survey and create a graph
Prepare and give a presentation in the style of their choice such as PowerPoint, recorded video or even stop motion animation
Take a trip linked to their project and follow it up with guided activities
Create a quiz
Consider a relevant debate
Prepare an interview for an expert in their chosen topic
Study two key people
Create some themed artwork
Explore a relevant recipe
Enjoy mindful colouring whilst they think
What age is the Curiosity Project Book suitable for?

Our age recommendation for this pack is approximately 8-16 years. It is suitable for children who would like to explore a topic or area of interest with guided activities. The activities have been designed to enable a wide range of ages to access them. Primary aged children can use it with support/supervision as is appropriate. Older children would be able to use it as a way of recording independent work.

Do I need anything else?

You will need to help your child gather books, magazines, videos and any other resources you can about the topic- this gathering is itself one of the activities in the Yearbook.