Personal Inquiry Journey

Waving and Wishing

2010-02-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

My final product is two-fold. First, I established a list of potential flowers for my garden. After researching which one are adult and larvae hosts, I decided to see what it would cost to start my garden. Imagine my excitement when I discovered twenty dollars would cover the financial cost (the other cost being my own labor, and the labor of other willing people)! This cost could go up some should I decide to start with plants rather than seeds. But, I feel I am pretty patient and can grow plants from seeds. My garden may not look like much for a year or two, but my research for the best plants for the butterflies in my area was well worth the time.

All of this information can be seen in my spreadsheets. Use the words in the bottom left corner to switch among the three sheets (notes, package deals, final selection).

The second product is a simple Google slide show presentation incorporating photographs and the new knowledge I acquired. This will be a good example to share with students during an inquiry project, depending on the scale of their inquiry. Feel free to view my presentation as a slide show, but be sure to check out my speaker notes where most of the information is included. To access the notes, click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner. Some notes are longer and will require scrolling to read all of them.

In looking back, I would have contacted my expert gardeners sooner. I thought being prepared for the interview with plenty of background knowledge would be great, but I forgot to factor in the limited time I had for working on the project.

I look forward to fulfilling my dream of creating a butterfly garden, thanks to the new-found information from my inquiry. I know some students would stop with the product, but I know further questions or ideas will arise.

What I am feeling now is the "sense of accomplishment" that Kuhlthau includes in Assessing the Process of the ISP model. I cannot say I have any disappointment at this point, but I can understand how this would happen. Had I discovered the cost of establishing my garden to be too high, I would've been disappointed in not being able to fulfill my dream at this time. Had I struggled to find the right information and ended up with less than I had hoped for, I could also feel disappointment.
When leading students through the I-Search model, I included a reflection time for them. Their excitement about sharing unusual facts about their topic and completing the project to their satisfaction was pretty common. Many expressed a wish for more time to gather or synthesize information. or even honestly shared their disappointment in the time they wasted. Knowing these mixed emotions could occur will motivate me to step in and be a partner with the students when they are struggling or seem to be floundering a bit. Sometimes a simple acknowledgement of their struggles is a relief; giving them the cleared head to begin focusing again.

Weaving, Wrapping, and Waving

2010-02-09T10:25:00.001-08:00

How exciting to finally be planning my garden. I feel I have gathered plenty of information from a variety of sources. Through the process I have re-valuated my plans, been surprised at the discovery of already have many of the plants, and discovered many new facts.

To share with others, I am preparing a slide show about the 5 components of butterfly gardens, what I am going to use for each component, and the flower combinations I plan to try in the spring. I know it may take a few years to get a well-established garden, but just knowing I will be getting it started is exciting.

One of my initial questions was wondering if the area I had chosen for the garden was appropriate. It is! All my resources emphasized a sunny location and most plants that attract butterflies or act as host plants for the larvae are full-sun loving plants. Creating my garden around the antique two-bottom plow in our yard will allow me to utilize the plow as a basking area for the butterflies. It will also offer a little bit of shelter as well.

As I finalize my garden plans and presentation, I look back and realize that establishing a butterfly garden will be much easier than I had initially thought, and less expensive! It definitely helps to have family and friends who are avid gardeners who love to pass along their surplus plants! This greatly reduces the start-up costs for me.

I am glad I chose to use Delicious to bookmark my online resources because I am sure as my garden grows I will have new questions. Also, I am starting with a modest garden with plans to expand in the future, when I have more time to devote to maintaining my garden.

I regret not seeking out videos about my topic. I think I can find helpful information through videos on YouTube or through gardening websites. Sometimes I get stuck in thinking text is the main route to use in research, forgetting that other media is just as helpful, if not more helpful. This was brought to my attention by seeing P Allen Smith's show on TV. Seeking out expert gardeners such as Smith could give me additional helpful resources and help me avoid common mistakes.

I feel this has been an authentic inquiry experience for me. Looking at the Information Literacy Standards in Information Power, I see how I have address many of them through this project. I have "accessed information efficiently and accurately", evaluated my resources, used the "information accurately and creatively", and "pursue[d] information related to personal interests. I also feel that through the blogs, I've been able to contribute to others' projects, meeting standard 9: "participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information". I know I have appreciated comments from my peers that have reaffirmed my choices, shared other resources, or given me food for thought.

More Wonderings

2010-02-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

As I dug into Roth's book, I discovered some new questions:

What are asters? Are they easy to grow?
What is ironweed? It attracts numerous adults, so I need to find out if this is a plant for my area.

Another discovery that lead to my elimination of purposely attracting some butterflies, is that some of them have larvae that eat beans and/or corn. Since the crops on our field are rotated between soybeans and corn, I didn't think it would be a good idea to try to attract these butterflies.

I was also surprised to find I had more butterfly attracting plants than I first thought. They are throughout my yard, but a few (Black-eyed Susans and Bee Balm) are already in a garden of their own! By looking at my information, I can determine what plants to add to this garden plot. One expert's suggestions is to plant host plants for larvae close to host plants for adults of the same species. This will take a bit more digging, since the only information I have is that they host adults (no specific species referenced).

Another aspect of attracting butterflies is rotting fruit and manure. While I don't think I will be putting manure in my garden, I do see building a simple fruit feeder and placing over ripened fruit on it as a possibility. This will be relatively inexpensive since the materials needed are a screw and washer, a wood post, and a plate. The fruit will come from our orchard once the apples, plums, and pears start falling. If we don't eat our fruit quickly enough, I now know how to put them to good use rather than throwing them out!

In Stripling & Pitts' REACTS model, I am in the transforming stage. I have assembled information from a variety of resources and am looking at them to draw conclusions (in this case, which plants do I need and which ones are lower maintenance). As I work toward the final aspect of Synthesis, I still need to make some decisions. Knowing that I can add a few plants to an existing flower bed is exciting, but I still desire to create a new garden using the information I have gathered.

One final discovery I have made is being careful about the plants I choose. For example, thistle plants attract many butterflies, but some such as Canadian thistle is considered invasive. Being aware of invasive plants can help me do my part to avoid encouraging the invaders. This is not something I thought of at first, but discovered as I webbed. This may be an aspect where students would say "who cares" and continue their plans without considering new information, but as an adult aware of the numerous problems associated with invasive plants and animals, I cannot continue without adding this as a guideline for plants choices.

Wiggle Weave and Wrap, with a bit of Webbing

2010-02-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a sunny but cold day to get me thinking about spring and the excitement of a butterfly garden!

I definitely can relate to students who have down-days when little is accomplished on researching and refining the search. The last couple days have been difficult due to research for our school improvement process. Being motivated to do anything similar after several hours of research/reading/searching is difficult. So, now I have set aside most of my Saturday for digging back in.

The sunshine and thoughts of an actual butterfly garden lighten my spirit and motivate me to begin weaving and thinking about wrapping my plan. I've wiggled a bit with my resources. I think the books I have are reliable and useful, especially Attracting Butterflies and Hummingbirds to Your Backyard by Sally Roth. She has written several books about nature, being a "lifelong naturalist and gardener" (book flap). She moved to Indiana in 1992 and writes articles for magazines and newspapers. She doesn't just write about nature, she is a researcher herself. In addition to her references, she also included resources for plants and seeds, supplies, and organizations to contact (address, email, and URL included).
Web sites sponsored by universities and well-known organizations can be generally trusted as well. Discussing this reminds me that different sources may have different perspectives on the same topic, so consulting several resources is recommended to get the most accurate information.

As I organize (weave) my information I am doing a bit more webbing (searching) to find information that fills gaps in my research. My wrapping of the project for sharing with others will most likely be in the form of a slide presentation and spreadsheet for figuring cost. I think a slide presentation will allow me to share my findings and plan for a garden, including the highlights of my findings. Anyone wanting more information could chat with me about aspects that they want to know more about. In creating a presentation it is important NOT to put too much information on each slide; simple phrases are better than paragraphs of information. If I wanted my audience to read paragraphs, I'd just give them a paper.

I can see how my information gathering can be of use to others. I can create a pathfinder of electronic and print sources for others who may be interested. Our elementary school has a courtyard garden, so this could tie into improving the garden's abilities to attract butterflies. This would directly connect to state standards such as Kindergarten Science standard 4:

Students ask questions about a variety of living things and everyday events that can be answered through shared observations.(Indiana DOE Standards).

They can observe the butterflies and caterpillars in the school garden, drawing conclusions. First graders also have this standard, with a focus on interactions between plants and animals. Second graders are to start using scientific thinking to observe and gather information about their surroundings. They could observe the butterflies and gather information such as which flowers the butterflies visit the most, how many butterflies there are, different types of butterflies, and more.

Older students could use a pathfinder to collect information about plants that attract butterflies and decide which ones to add to the garden. They could support their choices by using the information they collect. They could contact local gardeners for donations of plants, find out costs of specific plants at local gardening stores, and create a fund raiser to support their addition to the garden. Our school already works to weed and maintain the garden, so this would be a feasible plan for improving the garden and connecting to state standards as well.

The 9th W = Waffle

2010-02-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

I am "waffling" - trying to decide which sources to explore more in-depth. Do I dig into the books? look for more Internet resources? explore my current Internet sources more in-depth? exercise to get the blood flowing better and then work on my project? review the must-haves and elaborate previous posts to make them better?

Well, I just looked up the verb "waffle" to make sure that was the right word. I must say it is the perfect choice. Merriam-Webster confirms that synonyms are yo-yo and flip-flop, with the example "waffled on the important issues". More appropriately the second definition is "to talk or write foolishly: blather".

I think getting my tired brain kick-started will take a review of my questions and some exploring of book sources -- I'm less likely to get off-task. Enough waffling! Let's go!

Web Wiggle Wonder Weave

2010-01-31T09:02:00.000-08:00

Inquiry is DEFINITELY NOT linear. I find myself doing all of the Ws in my title. A summary of each-

Webbing:

Library OPAC-searched for butterfly gardens; gardens; butterflies; Located four books I thought might assist in gathering the information I need
online-located 6 website so far, one suggested by classmate, which show much promise; used Dogpile (since it is a metasearch engine and collects from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask) to search for "Butterfly garden"; disappointed in not finding a Purdue site, but happy to find ones from Ohio State and Univ. of Minnisota.

Wiggling:

Noticed two websites (The Butterfly Site and Butterfly Garden Website) seem to be the same information and pictures, just two different URLs and slightly different layout!
Skimming Sally Roth's Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard made me realize it was an excellent choice since author is from Indiana and information is great!
Roth's book also reminded me how important color is to attracting butterflies, and how to trick butterflies to come using fake flowers when necessary! (Hint: purple is their favorite color)
Skimming both The A to Z Garden Plants and The American Horticulture Society encyclopedia of Gardening gave me little information other than knowledge that butterfly bushes grow rapidly, are hardy, but relatively short lived (A to Z, 155), and the Butterfly flower prefers sandy soil (I don't have that) and are best for southern Florida and Texas (Amer. Hort. Soc., 210), eliminates it from my garden.

Wondering:

Roth's book made me wonder how I could modify an existing flower bed to attract both butterflies AND hummingbirds; decided to focus on adding plants to attract butterflies to this area, since the hostas already attract hummingbirds
Think Roth's suggestion for starting small and adding over the years is a feasible plan.
Thinking about what questions would be best for an interview with a local expert gardener.

Weaving:

Thinking about how this will tie into state standards for elementary: How can this be applied at our school?
We have a courtyard garden. What host plants do we have? What host plants do we need? What other features should we add?
The flowerbed I am now targeting needs to be rejuvenated (and Poison Ivy patch needs to be taken care of)
Five parts of the garden (Roth, 18-19): nectar, water, supplemental foods, shelter, nest sites/host plants)
Knowing that Bee Balm and Purple Cone Flowers are butterfly attractors, and that I have access to as many as I'd like through my mom (her thinning of beds is my benefit) is great. It cuts my cost and lets me focus on other aspects of the garden.

General thoughts:

I am glad I took the time to review the checklist for this project. I realized I was missing out on some crucial aspects, so I have some catching up to do! I am feeling a bit stressed-out, seeing the amount of progress needed in this last week! I now know how students feel when they are looking at the deadline and assessing the progress that must be made to meet the deadline.
I have added my online resources to my Delicious account-tagging them "butterflygarden" to make them easy to sort from the other bookmarked sites.
As I work on this project, I am also thinking about how to use this project as a model for an upcoming collaboration with the junior high English teacher. We are working on an inquiry project for some of the eighth graders, and I think sharing parts of my inquiry as an example (including my feelings along the way) will help.

Gathering Sources

2010-01-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

Today I followed a tip about the Indy White Water Garden butterfly exhibit (see previous post comments), and found out the exhibit doesn't start until late March. That might not help me right now, but it is worth knowing in case I have the opportunity to go before I start my garden.

While I was on the Internet, I decided to use Dogpile to search for sites about butterfly gardens. I also tried to locate a Purdue site, but didn't have much luck. This is a bit frustrating since I would think they would have something along this line. On the brighter side, I found The Butterfly Site, The Butterfly Garden Site, The North American Butterfly Association, and Louisiana Public Broadcasting's tips for beginners. While not all of these are about the Hoosier state, they will give me information about butterfly gardens in general. The Butterfly site looks really promising with its articles on everything from plants for caterpillars and adults, activities you will see in a garden, and what butterflies live in each state! I am definitely excited to dive into the information and start formulating ideas for my garden. I am going to swing by the library to see if they have books/resources that will also help. Perhaps they will have one on Indiana plants.

Wondering and starting to Web

2010-01-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

Friday, I spoke with our ag. teacher about resources. She was going to pull some of her resources about gardening, specifically having information about butterfly gardens. I know I would like to end up with a garden plan, but I need to answer some important questions before tackling that.

My questions from my Wonderings:

What elements (plants, rocks, water, etc) are MUSTS for a butterfly garden?
Is the location I have in mind: a. too sunny? b. too wet in spring? c. too susceptible to wind?
Is there a better location? If so, where?
Are there any plants I should avoid because they are poisonous to my dog?
What are some pecific plants that attract butterflies? which butterflies? are these plants/butterflies in Indiana?

This is just "the tip of the iceburg" I am sure. As I explore my resources (which includes a couple gardening books I have at home), I am sure other questions will come up. From working with students, I know it can be difficult to follow these new questions, given time restraints and the thought that sticking to the original questions is all the teacher really wants.

I also know that I tend to do a lot of thinking about my topic before diving into resources. What do I know? What do I want to know? Having been through and led students through the I-Search method of inquiry, I keep going back to this -my "What I know" of inquiry. :) The Wondering and What I Want to Know go hand in hand. They both ask for thinking on the topic and creating questions to research.

Personally, I like the "Watching" aspect of the 8Ws better than the general brainstorming I had students do with the I-Search. I also really like the pre-search activities as explained in "Inquiry 8: The Freedom to Choose". I must admit, this one caught my eye. As I do my own inquiry project, I am also preparing to collaborate with our junior high English teacher on a similar project. I think I did not spend enough time with my students in the pre-search stage, focusing more on the gathering of information and less on the thinking behind the topic-a mistake on my part. Helping the students evaluate their topics and decide if it is able to be researched is a valuable step which I glossed over (naivity?).

Back to butterfly gardens....
I need to do some thinking myself.

Why is this an interest to me?
I grew up with flowers all around me. My mother spent (and still spends) time grooming her flower beds- weeding, thinning, watering, and sharing her excess plants. My interest in gardening comes from this.
A few years ago at a church Mother-Daughter banquet, the guest speaker was a local gardener -possibly Master gardener - who shared a lot of information about starting a butterfly garden. I remember taking copious notes, but at the time, really didn't have a good location for the garden. I knew we would be moving sometime in the near future, so I didn't want to invest a lot of time in creating my garden only to have to start over elsewhere. Now that we have moved and I have plenty of locations to choose from, I am ready to create a butterfly garden.

Another motivator is my son. I know he enjoyed exploring the outdoors last year (turning over rocks, trying to catch/follow toads, splashing in puddles) and I know his curiosity will continue. Creating a butterfly garden will establish another outdoor lab to explore.

Webbing
I know that research is not linear. It still makes it a challenge to look at how the different aspects of inquiry are interwoven. As I work on webbing-finding sources and evaluating them for their expertise and validity, and starting to organize my research information, I know new questions may -no will - arise. I expect more frustration in the webbing, wiggling and weaving aspects of my inquiry. I know the feeling of "what do I do with this information now that I have it" both from personal experience and leading students through it.

I feel pretty confident right now in beginning to collect information to answer my initial questions. I also feel the pressure to get going on my project, with the deadline looming closer each day.

Topic decision -what a challenge!

2010-01-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

I have been struggling with deciding which of my final topics to choose - butterfly gardens or sewing machines. I am leaning toward investigating butterfly gardens. With exploring the class readings, I feel this topic may lend itself better to the inquiry project. I could interview member(s) of the local Master Gardeners and/or the school's horticulture teacher concerning which plants are best for Indiana butterfly gardens and even ask about how to create the garden. I can also look into sources for the plants and other garden features, checking prices for the project, with my ultimate product being a plan for the garden and the approximate cost of the materials. These seem to be the nuts and bolts of the project, but I know as I learn more about butterfly gardens my questions and final product may change.

I thought Singer sewing machines would also be interesting, since I am not sure what year my treadle machine was produced. Finding out that Elias Howe and I.M Singer had a five-year battle in the courts (Howe eventually won) was eye-opening to me. What else is there to know about the invention's history that is not well-known? I think looking at sewing machines and how they have changed over the years and predicting the future machines might be fun as well, but like I said, I am really leaning toward butterfly gardens.

Hmmmmmm.....
With the prospects of creating a butterfly garden in the near future, I think I have made my decision. Now I need to start "wondering" about what I need to find out and think about what I already know. This will help guide my initial search and help me decide which questions I can ask a local gardener and which questions I need answer before the interview. I've found from past interviewing experiences that the more prepared and knowledgeable I am about the topic, the better the interview goes. That's similar to "doing your homework" when applying for a job: find out all you can before going, and then ask well-informed questions. I feel more confident now that I know what my topic is.

Watching

2010-01-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

Throughout my inquiry process, my blogs will be following Dr. Annette Lamb's 8Ws of Information Inquiry. A complete list is available at http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/ws.htm. (This is one page from her Information Inquiry Course Guide.)
"Watching" involves observing the world around me. From this, I brainstormed a list of possible topics to investigate. In brainstorming, I took the traditional approach...write down everything that comes to mind, even if you know you will eliminate it later.

I must confess, having been so focused on work, college, and family time, I really hadn't thought about what topics interest me. I used suggested areas (hobbies, school subjects, current issues) from Lamb's Latitudes to jump-start my brainstorming. When I started working on my Other list, I browsed Grolier's Great America cards I had purchased a few years ago. That really got a few interesting topics.

Hobbies: quilting, gardening, cooking, baking, reading, canning, cross-stitch, singing

Subjects: band, English, science (some parts)

Current Issues: recession, health care reform, RttT initiative

Other: Air Force; pirates (old school); learn how to knit/crochet; butterfly garden; milking goats/making goat cheese/other goat's milk products; alternative energy; raising cattle, pigs, etc.; recycling & sewing; remodeling our house; potty training; geocache-ing; nutrition & exercise; crafts for toddlers; homemade toys/books; maintaining/expanding an orchard; nutrition & recipes; converse shoes; history of sewing machine/I.M. SInger/Elias Howe.

Reviewing my list, I can see where my interest in expanding our farm is a theme. We already have goats, but I don't know much about milking and other goat's milk products. We've also talked about expanding our farm to include other animals.
Having a toddler inspired some of my topics as well. Most of those topics would not lend themselves to this inquiry, so they are eliminated.

The topics that pop out to me are learning to knit/crochet; butterfly garden; candy experiments; Converse shoes; and history of sewing machine.
The candy experiments is an idea from a parenting magazine...but I am not too fond of creating messes that may have to sit for a while.
Converse shoes comes from a childhood curiosity...why do we call them Chuck Taylor's? Is there really a connection or did I errantly connect the two?
I've attempted to learn how to knit and crochet before...only ending in my mom and I laughing so hard we were crying because we couldn't figure out what I had done wrong!

I've narrowed it down to butterfly gardens and history of sewing machines. I want to think about these topics some more before making a decision. I want to create a butterfly garden at my house. I have what I believe to be the perfect spot, but am unsure about the plants and features needed to be a successful garden. I am also intrigued by the Singer vs. Howe case and Singer sewing machines in general. I have two singer sewing machines, one with a treddle and an electric one from the 1960s. I also remember using my grandmother's small machine that clamps to a tabletop.

I am going to ponder both butterfly gardening and sewing machines a while. I need to spend some time "wondering" about each before making my final decision.

Lamb, Annette. "Life-long learning: Lamb's Latitudes." Information Age Inquiry. 16 Jan 2010. .
Lamb, Annette. "8Ws of Information Inquiry." Information Age Inquiry. 16 Jan 2010. .

Introduction

2010-01-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

I am about to embark on a voyage, but the destination is currently unknown. Where I may traipse is also a mystery. The first step is brainstorming topics to explore. As I explore I will update my ventures here. Join me as I describe the journey and the adventures I have along the way...be they exciting or disappointing.