Category: Free Inquiry

Did you enjoy the free inquiry topic you chose as much as you expected?

Honestly, I didn’t love the free inquiry project I chose. I think in hindsight I could’ve picked something that I already have to do daily, like cooking, and challenge myself in that way to do something creative. I think I would’ve enjoyed experimenting with gluten-free cooking. However, adding something to my already busy life was not that practical. I did not have that much extra time to dedicate to juggling, so I didn’t progress as quickly as I would’ve liked. Although I did succeed in juggling by the very last week, I think I could’ve done it a lot earlier if I had the time. 

What advice would you give yourself if you could send a message back to yourself at the beginning of the semester?

I would’ve given myself the advice that I don’t need to choose something flashy or out of the box. Just to choose something I am passionate about and that is realistic for my capacity as a student, athlete and part-time lifeguard. No one cares if I can or can’t juggle – as long as I am enjoying my free inquiry project, that’s all that matters. This project was for me and no one else. So if I were to redo this project, I would’ve chosen something I was more passionate about, and that also fit into my schedule better.

What did you enjoy most about your inquiry?

What I enjoyed most about my inquiry was talking to other people about it. I started new conversations with people I’ve never talked to before about juggling. For example, one of the guys I work with at the pool is a really good juggler, and he gave me some tips about juggling, like using socks to start. If we hadn’t bonded over juggling, I’m not sure if we would’ve had another chance to connect. I also liked how I could learn about other people’s projects. I never knew Kas was so into making sourdough until I read her blog, and as a result, we began to chat more about bread-making. She even suggested some gluten-free recipe ideas for me to try out on my own sourdough!

*screenshots from a video I recorded of me juggling

Voice Memo transcription:

This has been my third week doing my juggling free inquiry project. Honestly, I’ve been a hit a bit of a mental block and have been a little bit frustrated because I have gone from juggling with the heavier balls back to socks because I wasn’t able to get the pattern down. And now still with socks, it’s still difficult. 
When I took the gymnastics class at UVic, we started with scarves, but the teacher also went through step by step how to juggle visually, and although I’ve watched YouTube videos, seeing someone do it really made the difference for me.

I think moving forward to next week, I need to find someone who knows how to juggle and watch them visually and also get a hold of some scarves, because I think just slowing down the pace will help me get a better grasp before I progress back to socks. But I definitely like socks over the full balls yet, just because they are softer and are a little bit more forgiving. 


While rewatching the video I recorded of myself juggling, I noticed that I lost the socks at the peak, and the socks slowly started moving to the left. So I think when I’m starting, I’m just tossing the first sock out of my right hand too far left. So that is a minor fix that I can change to enhance my juggling.

Voice recording transcript:

So for this week, for my free inquiry project, I wanted to take juggling to the next level, but honestly, it was a pretty busy week for me with volleyball, so I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted, but honestly, I think this is a really cool project because I don’t need to be making leaps and downs every single week. I just need to like learn a little bit more, whether that be practising it or just building my base level of knowledge before. I get into juggling. 
So what I did was watch the same YouTube video that I attached in free inquiry number one. And I just watched the next 30 seconds of it, which, um, just added on. So instead of just one ball juggling, it was two. 
Um, kind of just tossing them up and down. It was it wasn’t too challenging, but yeah, I think it was good. And then, Watch that video and practice my 2 ball juggling. 
Um, I was trying it with sock still because they fall a little bit softer to catch, but I think for next week, I want to go to the McKinnon equipment desk and rent scarves. And then try for 3 because I think they’ll just fall so much slower that I’ll really be able to get the timing down and I won’t get as frustrated. One thing that I’ve come to notice about taking on something that I have learnt, but have unlearned, is that I’m a competitive person, and I usually don’t, that doesn’t happen to me often, once I learn something, it sticks. 
So for this to be something that I’ve learned and I could do to now not being able to do it, it’s really throwing me for a loop. But in a good way, like, I like that I’m being challenged through this project. So yeah. 
That’s what I did this week. It was a little bit of a slower week, but, um, yeah, I am happy that I still got to use new technology like this voice memos transcript. I think that’s really awesome. 
So, yep, just building on that and we’ll see you in week three.

For my free inquiry project, I will be learning how to juggle. This project focuses on developing new skills through observation, repetition and reflection.

I chose juggling because it was a skill I learnt during a gymnastics class I took in 2023 as part of my PHE degree from UVIC. Before that course, I had never learned how to juggle. In the class, we scaffolded the skill by starting with scarves and gradually adding balls until we were juggling. At the very end of the course I was finally able to succeed, which was an incredibly rewarding experience. Unfortunately, after the course ended, I lost the skill and never had the time to relearn it. Until now. This inquiry project is a meaningful way for me to return to a skill that I once learned while also exploring how skill acquisition works through a lifelong learning perspective.

My initial goals for this project are to:

• find appropriate juggling materials for progressions (scarves, socks, balls)
• discover media resources to assist my learning targets

To support the learning goals, I have found instructional videos, particularly on YouTube. By following these videos, it will help me make a foundation of using proper technique to build upwards to 3-ball juggling.

To begin, I am using this video (only until the 35 second mark)

My next step is to start juggling scarves or socks because they will fall much slower and give me more time to get the base pattern down.

Stay tuned for week 2!