Genius Hour 20 Day Challenge - Day 15: Research & Setting Up an Interview

Day 15: Research & Setting Up an Interview

While students gain a lot of great information through resources like books, encyclopedias, videos, and websites, an interview is another great source (and skill) for students to practice during Genius Hour. Of course this doesn't apply to everyone, but if time and resources allow, we strongly recommend it! 

Teaching students HOW to interview is crucial. They really need to know the proper interview etiquette, so they don't walk in looking like this...

Most importantly, students need to know the purpose of interviewing someone. 

The purpose of interviewing someone is to get a unique perspective on something, not to learn information that you could find elsewhere (online, in a book, etc). 

Students need to understand that someone is taking time out of their day to help, so preparing properly for an interview is needed. 

Create an anchor chart with the class outlining the steps that need to be taken in order to conduct a successful interview. It's best for the class to brainstorm the steps together, but the end product should look something like this. 

1. Find a qualified candidate - utilize the help wanted board, ask family and friends, or find an outside source
2. Write interview questions - reiterate the purpose of interviewing, and maybe model appropriate interview question (ie. How did it make you feel...? What is your favorite part...? What challenges did you face when...?)
3. Get interview questions approved - I STRONGLY RECOMMEND REQUIRING TEACHER APPROVAL. This is SUCH a new skill for students, and even with modeling, knowing appropriate and helpful questions is still a challenge. If teacher feedback doesn't seem like a viable option, at least do peer feedback. 

Find the rest of this mini lesson in our Computer-Based and Online Genius Hour Mega Bundle (using Google Sites). 

Get inspired!

Here are some cool interview opportunities some of our students had!

• An interview with my [Lauren] brother! My brother FaceTimed our classroom from his college dorm to help a student who was wanting to build a computer since my brother had experience with that! My brother gave suggestions of sites with affordable parts, informed my student of what parts he should splurge on, and helped explain some of the more technical terms my student didn't understand. 
• An interview with all the fourth grade teachers! My student wanted to know what challenges fourth grade teachers face. She got opinions from 4 different teachers, and learned more "behind the scenes" stuff about teaching!
• An engineer came in! A number of students had questions relating to engineering/technology/problem-solving (3D printing, computer building, coding, etc.) We had the engineer speak to that group of students. 

& many more...