Wishing/Reflection

Overall I was quite pleased with how my project has gone. Through the information I explored, I was able to accomplish everything I wanted in our bathroom. I feel like we took the time to do the research and do things the right way, and I am very happy with the final outcome.

In some ways my strength in this area is also my weakness. I have a good short term memory and I have always relied on that heavily when doing any type of research or inquiry. It’s convenient to be able to relay to my husband my findings off the top of my head or draw upon my readings while standing in the aisle making a decision in the store. However, this also causes me to not be very organized. For class assignments this is a drawback because I am forced to retrace my steps in order to exhibit my work properly. In personal inquiry experiences I lose the benefit of clear organization. I have no way to share my thoughts with others except for telling them, and in my hectic life I tend to lose track of my little jotted down lists and notes. The biggest challenge by far for this project was time. Trying to balance the inquiry, the bathroom remodel, regular assignments for this and one other class, and taking care of my family was tricky. (And I am going to be taking a deep breath and maybe a nap when I finally get this all done!)

As I just mentioned, my organization for this project was not so great. I would definitely learn from this experience and start out with a clearer organizational plan. I’ve never really associated a “school” level of organization with a personal inquiry before. I now see the value of processing things in a similar way no matter what the task. I guess that’s really what we want students to take from school anyway, isn’t it? Understanding that the processes they learn in school are applicable in real life. : )

If I had more time, I would also have loved to explore some of Indianapolis’s construction reuse/recycling venues. While I found the contact information and locations of these, I did not have time to check them out. However, I do have another bathroom and kitchen I would love to tackle someday, so maybe I can try them out then.

As I was working on this project, there were several times that I realized how beneficial my prior knowledge was to being successful. Considering that my experiences are part of an English/Education/Library science background, I realize that I may have a leg up on most adults, let alone children or young adults when it comes to inquiry. For the bathroom remodel specifically, it was obvious that my previous, although limited, experience with DIY home improvement gave me an excellent starting point. This is prior knowledge most students wouldn’t have. I think the role of prior knowledge is one of the biggest differences between my experience and that of my students. The experiences one has at 8, 12, or even 18 or 20 are so limited compared to the experiences of one’s adult years. Guild explains this concept in this way, for students "the subject matter domain may also be at the novice end of the spectrum. As Pitss (1995) showed, the combination of rudimentary research skills and sketchy content area knowledge proves insufficient to support independent research activities."

I also realized that I exhibit some traits that I might have in common with some children or young adults. From my teaching experience, organization is often an overlooked/undesirable part of student’s inquiry/research process. I’ve already shared my shortcomings in this area. I also found that I got very excited about the final product and had to reel myself back in to working through the steps. Unless a child/young adult is pursuing a topic of little interest, I think they would share this trait with me as well.

Guild, S. L. (2003). Modeling recursion in research process instruction. In B. K. Stripling & S. Hughes-Hassell (Eds.), Curriculum Connections: Through the Library (p. 142). Westport, CT.: Libraries Unlimited.