For this project I wanted to investigate how the use of technology for inquiry impacts student engagement in a 2nd grade classroom. Could I design a learning environment that allowed kids to approach technology like they would a sandbox--a place to play and explore and create? Would this experience give them tools that they could transfer? Could it impact their motivation and engagement in their classroom learning?

I teach at a Title 1 elementary school where the majority of families have limited incomes along with a myriad of other challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the level of crisis and stress that these families are experiencing. This situation, unprecedented on so many levels, led to a significant number of my students struggling to stay engaged and interested during our remote instruction. My co-teacher often says, "We cannot start to teach them until they are in the room." To me this means, if my students are not present and engaged during instruction, nothing I can do will help them learn. What could I do to get them back in the room? Research shows that autonomy and choice are key to promoting intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2008). I chose to look for ways to leverage technology to spark that essential inner motivation in my students.

In a survey of my students and their families I learned that video games topped the list of interests/hobbies followed by coloring and playing with Legos. I intentionally sought out technologies and programs that would connect to theses interests (Minecraft and Dance Party coding, drawing and coloring programs) as a way of acknowledging the skills and strengths that are often unseen or unappreciated at school (Ellison & Solomon, 2018).

I wanted to do more than just capitalize on their strengths. I wanted to challenge how they interacted with technology---shifting from being consumers to being creators (Hobbs, 2017) and explorers. I teach at an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) school where inquiry is a foundational component of our curriculum. I sought out technology platforms that supported open ended inquiry. There is no limit to how far you can explore Google Earth or Google Maps. Kids could create as they play by learning to code with Scratch and Ozoblockly. And they could express themselves in new creative ways by learning how to navigate drawing programs like Painter and Microsoft Whiteboard.

Because I wanted to build as much choice into this project as possible I organized an optional “Technology Club” that would meet twice per week. One was a “Creator’s Club” which focused on coding and drawing and the other was an “Explorer’s Club” which focused on Google Earth, Google Maps and photography. Students could choose to come to as many or as few sessions as they wanted. One advantage of starting this project when we were in remote instruction was the easy availability of 5th grade "tech buddies" (Edutopia, 2017), who I recruited to drop into our Zoom to serve as coaches and mentors.

I considered all 15 of my students to be participants in the project, but I intentionally focused on a small group of five students who were either not engaged or only minimally participating during our online learning. These were students who would most likely also experience barriers to their engagement and participation if we were in an in person school setting. Contributing factors included economic/housing insecurity, diagnosed learning disabilities and social emotional issues. Four out of the five have indicated that they enjoy drawing and /or video games. My end goal was for all of my students to use at least one of these technology tools comfortably enough to apply the skill to a Unit of Inquiry project.