DAY 2

Today we began the Pathways Activity, as we are now calling it, by quickly reviewing what happened yesterday. This gave the children an opportunity to reflect and communicate about their experience. I provided some questions to encourage further reflection. Some of the questions include the following:

*How did you make your marble move?

*How did you use other materials?

*What materials did you use?

*What happened when you used those materials?

After this reflection time we reviewed the safety rules they had come up with the day before. I asked if they felt we needed to think of any new rules regarding safety. I asked them to find a partner, gave them each a marble, and said they could get 6 pieces per team to start. The children found arbitrary areas in the room to work. This choice of space allowed each team a different set of variables to work around and, perhaps, use in their creations (chairs, shelves, books, toys, etc.). More of the children discovered the use of an incline or “slide.” The inclines I observed today we’re extremely steep, usually leading to a flat pathway. Some teams gained ideas from other teams by observing their creations. Many children moved their marbles by pushing them. Many moved their marbles by blowing them. Today one boy batted his marble with a block. We discussed safety when a marble was batted into the air. All pathways today were straight. I plan to ask how they might make their marbles turn a corner during our next session. This session lasted 30 minutes.