Genius Hour Questions

Asking Questions

After getting over the initial shock of understanding the concept of choice, students took off.  I gave the students a copy of the graphic organiser. I gave them a week to think about their research topic.  In the future, I would give the students more time to think.  Perhaps I will start the introduction to Genius Hour in September and we would not actually start until October.  I have the perfect spot in my room to post ideas.

The questions the students developed were all very unique.

For example, one female student is asking: " How does sound travel?".  I thought this one was really interesting as studying sound is covered in science at an early age.  When I asked her the rational she explained that she was curious how her cell phone worked.  This is a teen who loves her phone and now she is curious to how it actually works. 

Another student asked, " How could a zombie apocalypse really happen in real life?".  Okay. This one really caught me off guard. I asked where the question came from. She explained how she has been reading about zombies a lot lately and the cultures they originally came from.  She had read some scientific state of mind that some cultures believe is "zombie".  I am no "genius" on this topic, nor did I even know some of the things she already knew about zombies....but I was hooked in listening and she was inspired to learn.  

They are interested, curious and inspired.  We will begin our first actual genius hour time this Monday.  I can't wait!