Students will launch the investigation by connecting personal and family rituals to global tea and coffee ceremonies, gathering first-round observational evidence from community-linked experiences, and drafting early inquiry questions that will guide later research, fieldwork, and ceramic design.

Students will examine conflicting accounts and visual evidence from tea and coffee ceremonies, generate focused lines of inquiry about identity and community, test the strength of possible questions and hypotheses through peer critique, and finish the phase with a teacher-approved investigation question and preliminary claim grounded in observable evidence.

Students will finalize a defensible investigation plan for their tea or coffee ceremony study by selecting credible sources, refining interview and observation tools, defining evidence-quality criteria, and producing a peer-reviewed research outline and fieldwork checklist for upcoming data collection.

Students will organize fieldnotes, interview evidence, and source notes into comparison tools that help them test their question and hypothesis, identify patterns and contradictions across ceremonies, and draft evidence-based interpretations that connect cultural ritual to identity and community. They will refine claims through peer critique, document limitations and new inquiry paths, and complete a graded analysis milestone that prepares their exhibition writing, ceramic design justification, gallery talk, and final reflection.

Students will present their research-based ceramic tea or coffee sets to families, peers, and community partners through a public gallery experience, then synthesize how research, fieldwork, comparison, and making shaped their understanding of identity, hospitality, and community.