SOLO Mysteries
"A Mystery is a collection of different data which pupils use to find a reasoned answer to a central question. The information used can be text, images, objects, charts or a combination." Reference
Mysteries were used in NZ schools in the early 2000's but are less commonly seen nowadays.
Our inspiration came from David Leat from the University of Newcastle who has written about the classroom use of mysteries in some detail - refer to Mysteries in the David Leat Thinking series published by Chris Kington Publishing.
- -Thinking through Geography by David Leat (1998) Strategy 4 Mysteries p51
- -Thinking through Primary Teaching by Steve Higgins with Viv Baumfield - Series Editor David Leat (2001) - Chapter 5 Mysteries
- -Thinking Skills Through Science by Sue Duncan, Don McNiven and Chris Savory - Series Editor David Leat (2004) - Three Chemical Mysteries p114
The Nottinghamshire site referred to above has a good summary of Mysteries and interestingly a SOLO assessment rubric for teachers (see below)
| SOLO Level | Performance Level |
| Prestructural (Irrelevant) | Pupils select some data items, which may be relevant, but cannot develop an explanation. |
| Unistructural (Basic) | Pupils select one or two data items, which are relevant, and develop an explanation but it does not fully address the question. |
| Multistructural (Advanced Basic) | Pupils select several data items and develop an explanation but it does not fully address the question. There may be some limited linkage between some data items but they are not all linked together to reach a successful conclusion. |
| Relational (Understanding) | Pupils select several data items which are likely to be grouped in some way. The explanation has clear causal connections such as ‘because’, ‘and then’ and ‘meanwhile’ appropriately. The question is answered successfully. |
| Extended Abstract | In addition to the above, pupils use wider knowledge to help interpret the information and make more general and abstract statements. They are able to entertain more than one solution and more likely to identify flaws or weaknesses in their own reasoning |
More recently Chris Harte and Tait Coles have collaborated to write a couple of fabulous blog posts about using Mysteries and SOLO. As they note combining Mysteries with SOLO Hexagons seems like a natural next step.
http://chrisharte.typepad.com/learner_evolution_chris_h/2012/10/brains-on-the-solo-table.html
http://taitcoles.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/brains-on-the-solo-table-part-2/
