Project by: Zoe Karp (10th Grade), Marlo Hulnick (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Kelly O’Shea
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Kelly O’Shea

Description of the Project:  

We’ve decided to adapt our project to fit the current circumstances of online learning. At first, we were going to attempt to help out Beth’s 4s classroom, assist, and observe how the students interacted and how their environment supported their growth as learners. Our adapted project will include us sitting in on the 4’s “Makertime” and storytime once a week. This way, we’ll be able to observe the interactions of the students with their teachers in a more relaxed space, when they’re being more authentic and open. We’re also thinking of continuing this through the first trimester of next year to compare this to a regular learning environment.

Final Product (e.g., documents, images, video, audio, poster, display, etc.):

 

Final Reflection on Learning:

Zoe: Being in high school classes online, there’s definitely a difference, but for the most part, we’re learning the same things and with the same people in the same ways. After observing the 4s class, I realized how different this experience actually is for people who aren’t capable of learning exactly the same as they did in school. While many of the students who were lively and open during regular school became a little bit more reserved, in the limited time that we got to spend with them, there was clearly a difference from the beginning of this process to the end. In the beginning, almost no one talked. Beth and Katy would try to prompt discussions, and sometimes it would work, but for the most part, it was pretty silent. By the end of the time with them, it was a challenge for Beth and Katy to get them to stop talking. Students were more outgoing, friendly to visitors (us), and overall, just much more chatty! My main take away from this project is that everything takes time. Especially for young learners, for who routine is so important, it takes time to develop a natural learning environment. This also made me reflect on my experiences of online learning and even doing an honors project online. We’re so set in our day to day routines, and when something is shifted, we take a little bit of time to adjust to it. I think this is much more significant for younger learners, but it’s helped me remember that it’s ok to take a little bit of time to adjust.

Marlo: This honors project was definitely difficult to execute online because of the nature of the project, but I’m glad it worked out as well as it did. We were still able to achieve our goal of observing how classroom learning supports early childhood students, but in changing the context to fit the circumstances, Zoe and I were still able to learn a lot. The online aspect certainly changes a lot of things that we would have focused on observing if this project was in person, such as participation, attentiveness, and more. Something significant that I observed was the students’ growth throughout this trimester despite the circumstances of online school. Routine and schedule to structure days are very important for young learners, and remote learning made this challenging. This is a big adjustment for young students. The routine of being in a classroom with teachers and peers was disrupted, so at the beginning of the project, I noticed that students were more hesitant to participate during Makertime. I noticed that every week we attended, the students would participate more and more, not only with the teachers, but between each other as well. This is very important for early childhood development, and one of the obstacles I expected online learning to create was a lack of peer interaction. My main takeaway from this project is that any type of learning, whether online or in person, can support the development of early childhood students through progress over time. Also, Beth and Katy did an amazing job working with the students during this difficult transition and made it seem much easier than it actually is.

Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 (include any photos or video if relevant):

Zoe: So far, everything has been a little chaotic. We’ve been in contact with Beth and Katy, who’ve been extremely helpful in figuring out our schedules and how to work this project. We pretty much know how everything is going to work now, and we’re looking forward to starting soon!

Marlo: Over the past week, Zoe and I have been working with Beth and Katy to figure out how we are adapting this project to fit our current situation. We have figured out how we are going to proceed, and we are excited to start soon. There may be a few tweaks to our plan in the coming weeks based off of what happens when we start working with the fours, but we are confident.

Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant):

Zoe: Today (April 17), we observed the 4s class for the first time. In the morning, we sat in for Makertime, where the students are split into breakout rooms about their activity, either manipulatives or paperwork. I was in the paperwork group, and for the most part, the 4s students were either on mute, talking to their parents, or responding to questions either I or Katy asked them. The focus level varied from student to student, some were running around their houses trying to gather materials or just playing a different game, and some were fully focused on the screen, making monsters out of construction paper. The main thing I noticed was that the 4s didn’t really interact with each other very much, it was much more based on question and responses.  I also noticed that the teachers are doing their best to support the kinds of things that happen during regular school, like one of the 4s saying that it was her teddy bear’s birthday, and asking the class to draw cupcakes for her.  In the afternoon, we observed storytime, which was easier for us to get information about focus and behavior from. Most of the kids were on mute while they were listening and many of their siblings listened in as well. At the end of the day, they did a dance party to get them moving and to say goodbye.

Marlo: During the past few weeks we’ve observed more 4s classes. We’ve sat in on periods called Makertime, which is a thirty-minute period where the kids split into breakout rooms to work with manipulatives or paperwork over zoom. One thing that I’ve been observing is the focus level and attentiveness of the students because as this project started I knew it was possibly one of the biggest difficulties of online learning, especially for students of such a young age. While observing the class, I’ve noticed that despite many distractions, such as siblings, teachers, food, or technical difficulties, the students, for the most part, are fairly attentive given the circumstances. Despite this, the 4s aren’t interacting with each other that much. Although the teachers try to encourage this, online learning makes this very difficult.

Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant):

Zoe: The most important thing I observed over these last few weeks was the silence during Makertime. Beth and Katy tried to prompt conversations and make it clear that it would be easy for the students to talk and enjoy each other’s company. This is definitely difficult to communicate to early childhood learners, especially over Zoom. The other big thing we’ve seen is sort of the opposite of this. When conversations get going, although there definitely aren’t as many as there would be in the real classroom, the conversations can get difficult to handle. Kids will walk away from their computers and parents will have to corral them, sometimes they’ll flip they’re iPad over so all you can see is the floor, and sometimes conversations will become so loud and rowdy that the teacher will have to mute the whole class. Overall, it’s really interesting to see the stark differences in the ways that interactions can go from too quiet to too loud in a split second, as soon as the class feels like they’re getting into the swing of things.

Marlo: Over the last few weeks of our project, we have continued observing Beth and Katy’s four’s class during Makertime. I have mostly noticed the same things that I have observed in the previous weeks of the project, but I do think that the attentiveness of the students has decreased. This may be due to a lot of reasons, including the approaching end of the school year, the increasing period of time being inside since New York City’s quarantine started, or many other reasons. This may also be because of technical difficulties, distractions at home, or many other things. Overall though, the Makertime class periods are going very well despite the difficult circumstances that online learning creates.