How far is Beijing leads to an investigation into longitude lines

Our investigation into China has deepened.

We started our investigation into Mandarin, learned a few phrases and the students went home with much enthusiasm to have conversations with their families.  The next morning they all greeted each other with Ni Hao!  They were so excited to learn Mandarin that they were asking for all sorts of new words.  I know very little so we moved towards the numbers, they soon saw how the pattern worked and began counting, they now know up to 99! Further questions are how to say zero and 100.

In a constructivist classroom it is easy just to  "go with it", to let the project evolve completely from the students leanings, but I must also be sure to listen out for those ideas that will lead the investigation further and deeper.  As we were working on the numbers a child asked about the One Child Policy in China, another asked if we could actually go to China.  Both of these questions are very valid, and both could lead to deeper investigations.

So which way to go?  Which one would be more interesting, which one would lead to the goals I had set for the investigation?  We decided to go with "going" to China.

This led to a fantastic discussion into our world.  The size of the earth, how far Beijing is from Richmond, Virginia and would it be possible to fly all the way there without stopping.  The general consensus was no it seemed too far.   We looked at scale, and on a world map calculated the distance - about 8000 miles - still too far was the opinion.

We then looked at airline route maps, it seemed that by going via California we may be able to get there, still not sure though.  Then a student brought in the proof - her father had traveled all the way to China without stopping and she showed us the route - yes it could be done!

Then the children became interested in the globe, looking up the route and investigating the markings on it.  Soon the words longitude and latitude were coming up.  What do those words mean I ask.  And as in an earlier blog, I noted that the students had learned a vocabulary word but had no real idea of the meaning of it. They knew they were lines on the globe, but nothing further.

So, an investigation into the longitude lines on the map ensued, groups of children gathered around globes, observing the lines and numbers they saw.  It was noticed that there were 12 longitude lines on one globe.  When this information was shared, we found all the globes had 12 lines, could this be to do with time, one student asked - YES, of course time zones, it must be!

In the constructivist classroom, it is always important to acknowledge the ideas of the students, right now it really doesn't matter whether the longitude lines have anything to do with the time zones, or that there may indeed be more than twelve of them.  It is not time for the teacher to reveal that information yet.  But I have been asked to find a time zone map, and we'll see if the time zones do match up with the longitude lines.