Prep Bulletin
A snapshot into Investigations
Learning Experience Overview:
Investigations fosters a student-focused learning environment that promotes curiosity and provides your child with the opportunity to develop skills such as: critical and creative thinking, clear communication, posing questions, developing a rich vocabulary, collaboration, and making connections to the real world.
"Childhood is filled with natural wonder and curiosity. The learning environment must reflect a classroom and outdoor space that inspires a sense of wanting to investigate, to find out more, and to explore." — Kathy Walker
During Investigations, students explore a range of activities that are designed based on their interests. Our spaces include sensory experiences, construction, maths, reading, writing, visual art, role play, science, health, and physical education.
Whole:
Focus: Maths
Each Investigation session begins with a short, targeted focus on a specific concept. This week, the focus was on developing students’ understanding of the time through the days of the week. Together, we explored the day and date on our Investigations display. The teacher guided the discussion by prompting students to consider:
- What day is it today?
- What day will it be tomorrow?
- What day was it yesterday?
- Can you read the date?
Focus Children:
Three Focus Children speak to the class, sharing why they chose their item and outlining their investigation intentions. They use the ‘Five W’s’ anchor chart to guide their presentation and help provide context to their ideas. The teacher supports this process by asking open-ended questions to clarify the children’s interests and explore how these ideas might connect to real-life scenarios. They also use the ‘When I am a Focus Child I can’ anchor chart to guide their research and help them plan their investigation.
Reporter and Photographer:
In each session there is also a Reporter and Photographer. The teacher allocates a task to two children per session. The role that each child is given to fulfil their role is specific to the Big Idea, personal interests or a learning need and alternates between a mathematics, literacy or wellbeing intention. Below is an example of this week’s Reporter and Photographer tasks and students’ work samples.
The Reporter and Photographer roles are engaging, purposeful, and special experiences for each child during Investigations. These roles are designed with clear intentions to support and extend learning in a meaningful and enjoyable way. Key aims include:
- Encouraging social interaction and collaboration, especially with peers the child may not usually work with
- Extending thinking and problem-solving skills by finding evidence and examples that link to current learning intentions in areas such as literacy and numeracy
- Offering additional opportunities to strengthen individual literacy and numeracy skills
- Incorporating technology as a tool for recording and reporting learning
- Personalising the experience to build on each child’s interests and strengths
- Fostering self-esteem, confidence, and resilience through responsibility and ownership
Example of photographer: Take pictures of circles.
Example of reporter:
Small:
During Investigation sessions, the teacher spends one on one time with the Focus Children, scaffolding their learning and supporting them to discover different methods of finding information about their chosen topic. The teacher asks lots of open-ended questions to encourage the child to think more deeply about their interests. The focus is on the learning process, rather than the outcome.
Students select an Investigations area they would like to explore. Each area is thoughtfully designed and includes a clear learning intention, interesting vocabulary, and materials connected to the chosen theme. These provocations are carefully curated by teachers to spark curiosity, promote questioning, and encourage active exploration.
In addition to promoting inquiry, each area supports the development of important skills such as collaboration, communication, and social interaction. Displayed in these spaces are statements that link the children's play to real-world occupations and highlight the dispositions and skills we aim to nurture in our students.
For example:
- As an engineer, I will problem-solve, plan, design, draw, persist, and take risks.
- As a botanist, I will observe, explore, and draw.
- As an author, I will plan, imagine, communicate, express ideas, consider my audience, stretch out words, and use punctuation.
Example of focus children work:
Daisy – How is a globe made?
Daisy worked one on one with the teacher to explore the materials used in making a globe. Together, they observed and identified different parts of the globe by feeling their texture and listening to the sounds they made when tapped. Daisy then labelled each part, linking this investigation to our English focus on writing labels.
Arvin – How fast will the car be after it transforms?
Arvin collaborated with the teacher to design a racetrack and conduct three time trials with his transforming car. He recorded each result and identified the fastest run by recognising the smallest number. This investigation had a mathematics focus, with an emphasis on recording and interpreting time.
Examples of learning in some of our areas:
Whole:
The Focus Children share what they have learned and discovered with the rest of the class, practising how to express their ideas in a structured and meaningful way. They also reflect on any challenges they faced and explain how they overcame them. This sharing time helps develop important speaking skills, such as clearly articulating ideas, using appropriate vocabulary, and maintaining eye contact with their audience.
What you can do now to continue the learning at home, from this experience:
- Ask your child about their Investigations this week. Try questions like: What area did you find most interesting? What have you discovered? Where would you like to go next?
- Promote curiosity by asking open-ended questions that encourage deeper thinking.
- Help your child check their Investigations roster regularly to stay organised.
- Chat with your child about what they would like to share when it’s their turn as Focus Child.
- Practise using the ‘5 Ws’ (Who, What, When, Where, Why) anchor chart to help them give context when speaking.
- Read the reflection sent home when your child is the Focus Child and discuss their “glow” (something they did well) and their “grow” (an area for improvement).
Warm regards,
Alyssa, Ruby and Julian
Prep Team
Alyssa.Thermos@education.vic.gov.au