A Recipe for Big6™ Success
“Take 125 students, 5 classroom teachers, 1 library media specialist, and a few instructional technology integrators. Add a bit of information research, modeling clay, construction paper, glitter, glue, and paint. Mix well with digital photos and animation software. Yield: one successful curriculum-based learning project!

This recipe was first tested in 2002 with a group of fourth-grade social studies students at O. B. Gates Elementary School in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The classes consisted of students of various abilities including those who received special education services. The classroom teachers and the library media specialist wanted a way to spice up a research project on famous Americans. They decided that clay animation would add the right amount of zing to the project. The venture began with the introduction of the Big6 process, which focuses on information skills. The students were guided through the steps to plan their research before they even opened a book or logged on to a computer. The students chose the historical character they would research, mapping out the information they would need and resources they would use. Each student independently completed the research using their Big6 planning sheet as their guide. What a difference a plan makes!

After the independent research was completed, the students were placed into groups. Students from various classrooms were grouped together according to the person they had researched. They were tasked with choosing who would design the background, create the clay figures, draw the storyboard, and finally take the digital pictures. After the planning was complete, everyone met in the school library to work. Does that sound like a recipe for disaster? Surprisingly, we had a few curious visitors who were looking to see if they could find students off task. What they found was 125 students engaged in purposeful learning. The students also used their imaginations to solve any problems they encountered during the process. How do you safely show the White House burning while Dolly Madison saves the portrait of George Washington during the War of 1812? Orange and yellow tissue paper flames gave the students a harmless way to illustrate the conflagration.

This recipe has been repeated in our county at other schools with different grade levels and curriculum areas. At Providence Elementary and Grange Hall Elementary, the fifth graders focused on science by creating oceanography clay animation movies as the culmination of their Big6 project. Although some of the ingredients may vary, the combination of the Big6 and clay animation is an award-winning recipe for our students!“