The Power of Simple Provocation

Urban Safari

Please click the hyperlink just above this and take a look at the Powerpoint before reading the rest of this!

This Powerpoint was made as part of my daughter’s homework during a unit of inquiry about living things that we share our community with. We simply went for a walk down a nearby street in central Bangkok and I took whatever photos Ruby told me to take. When we got home, we put it together and she told me what to type on each slide.

As you can see, there are countless opportunities for further inquiry that emerged from the simple provocation of going for a walk and looking. Given the chance and the guidance, Ruby could have taken one or more of her questions, confusions and observations further.

Kids are already as curious as we allow them to be. We don’t really need to over-think our provocations… if we are genuinely leading students towards “real-world learning” then our provocations lie in the real world! Students need to learn the vital skills of looking, seeing, noticing, recording and then figuring out what interests them the most.

It then becomes our job to help them navigate their curriculum in a way that remains true to their initial curiosities.