The most significant learnings likely arise as a result of a student's own ‘desire to know'. The passion that students will have for the investigations to their own ‘driving' question will carry them through the difficulties, mistakes, confusions and troubles that come with authentic problem solving.

Students should:

• generate problem ideas - knowledge problems - questions to investigate...
• comment on the thoughts of others (with the assistance of Comment Starters)
• reflect on their own work (especially in the light of the comments)
• identify a specific question, problem or project

Once students have identified their specific questions or problems to be investigated, they should consider how to go about solving them. It is typical that students will ‘jump right in' to their first ideas. They should be encouraged to generate and consider several plans before embarking on one.

Students should:

• generate a number of approaches to the task
• comment on the work of others
• reflect on own work (especially in the light of the comments)
• identify specific strategies to be used

Students must be careful not to get so ‘wrapped up' in the task that they lose sight of how they are doing. Journal Zone gives them the opportunity and the prompts to pause and consider how things are going.

Students should:

• keep a record (textual, graphic) of their progress on the task
• Ask themselves: "Do things make sense?" "How's it going?" "What don't I understand." "Should I modify my goals?"

Students often don't take the time to reflect on how they have done during any particular work session or, in fact, at the end of their project. This is a valuable exercise so that they make connections between their efforts and their results. It also sets the stage for the next phase of their investigation.

Students should:

• record their reflections about their work (as a culminating activity in addition to the ongoing reflections)
• Ask themselves: "What could I have done differently?" "What have I learned that will be useful to me?"

This process is one that is revisited throughout the life of the investigation or project. It is natural and expected that students should revisit the original question and perhaps revise it as necessary. Perhaps the original question was too hard or too easy. Perhaps it requires further definition or clarification. Good learners regularly monitor the effectiveness of their work. The Journal Starters provided with Journal Zone are useful at any phase of the students' work since planning, monitoring and reflecting are continuous processes.