Brooklyn Social Studies & Art Project

Students in our Brooklyn classroom have started learning about the refugee crisis. This week, students used the Questioning Technique to develop a research question about this topic. They closely observed several photographs from various media sources and asked questions that they had about each image. From these unedited questions, students identified what they had in common.

For all of our students, the refugee crisis was a subject for which they had no prior knowledge, and they chose to start with the question: What is a refugee? Students then split up into small groups to read leveled texts and learn more.

Following their research, students used their sketchbooks to reflect on what they had read and discussed in their groups. They were asked to draw an image of their home or what they would take with them if they suddenly had to leave their home with their family.