Why is learning in a group important?According to Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners, "when children and adults are in groups, they also learn from and with others. In groups, we encounter new perspectives, strategies, and ways of thinking that enable us to learn from others. We also learn with others, modifying, extending, and enriching our own ideas and those of others.
Each week, I would love for us to observe, reflect, and understand how our children and ourselves are learning from one another. If you observe ways your child or yourself, is influenced by others in the class, I urge you to share it with us all.
Reflecting with a parent, after the class, I learned that sometimes certain items can serve only as a distraction. As you will read below, I had purposefully set up the ramp and balls for this little guy because I know he enjoys balls. However, once he got his hands on all 4 balls, they became "his" and he had to take care of them. He was distracted by the balls and wasn't able to move past holding them in order to test other lines of inquiry. Not to say what he was focused on wasn't valid and he was certainly engaged in observing others. But...your information as a parent is so critical to the success of your child's investigations in and out of class. Without, this parent pointing out that her son becomes distracted by balls, I might have overlooked it. Therefore, it leads one to wonder, how might we push his thinking beyond holding the balls to one of more inquiry??
I was so excited about this new provocation for the children! I expected one of the boys, in particular, to be very interested in rolling the balls down the ramp. I provided golf balls, black paint, glitter, and rolling balls for the children to have the opportunity to not only roll these elements down the ramp but to be able to see the actual movement of the material by the track it left behind on the paper.
This little boy (not the one I had originally anticipated having an interest in this investigation) quickly became a scientist and had many theories to test. He sees the glitter and pours it onto the ramp. 
He observes the results. The glitter has stuck to the paint and is not showing any signs of movement. I wonder and even hope that he is puzzled by this outcome. Dad might be able to provide more insight on his son's reaction :) as he was present for the experiment. 
Next, he explores how the balls and rolling pins move down the ramp and fall into the bin or onto the floor.
Other children are interested in the activities and come over to test their theories.
W. brings over a plastic key from another area and tests how it will move down the ramp. He understands that it needs a little pushing to slide like the ball and rolling pins.
A dynamic begins to emerge between 2 little boys and a Dad. They observe one another's attempts to roll objects down the ramp and pay close attention to each other's "tests". 
How will this cup move down the ramp?
After testing many different objects, it occurs to one of the little boys to wonder as to how HE might move down the ramp? Thoughtful and "listening" parents quickly come over to help make this investigation safe by holding the ramp for him.
He begins to connect this experience with a slide and climbs back up several times. It's a meaningful experiment and many of the other children and parents are observing, learning, and most importantly Joyful!
This mom approached me during class asking how she could help her daughter become more comfortable getting messy. Thankfully, one little guy and Mom had already solved this problem for us previously! Thank you J and J! Using a hand over hand technique ( the child's hand on top of Moms), the little girl was able to control the movement and experiment with concepts of cause and effect without becoming sidetracked by getting messy. 
However, as she becomes more comfortable, her curiosity allows her to touch the paint all by herself!
She is not sure how she feels about it.
Back to using Mom's hand :)
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