S'More From the AP
Week Ending March 27, 2015
Inquiry Learning - With Mrs. Clark!
After six years of teaching I thought I had a pretty good handle on teaching Science. My lessons were always hands on and students spent the majority of their time on task and I thought engaged. Then I went to Science Inquiry training. I thought this would be the same training I have had before just with a new name. It was not. This training completely changed the way I teach.
The good news, you can just about change any of your favorite lessons and turn it into an inquiry lesson. My very first attempt was to take a lesson on matter and change it to this new method. The original lesson lead the children on how to pick up an ice cube without touching it using string, salt and water. I needed to remove the step by step cookie cutter version of the lesson and get my students involved in the following steps. This is what I did to make the lesson more of an inquiry:
We first talk about observations and what we already know about matter and how it changes. This also gives me an idea what they have been doing in their regular classroom and what they remember from the previous year. Next we talk about the problem and I lead them or they come up with a question that they will solve. Sometimes I give them materials to choose from other times I leave it up to them.
Then I instruct them to make a hypothesis and predict. With inquiry you do not give them a procedure. As a group they need to plan their own investigation, gather materials, conduct experiment, and interpret/record their information. The best and last part is when we communicate our findings with each other.
You will know when you are truly doing an inquiry lesson because you will feel like you could step out for an hour and they wouldn’t even know you were gone. But you don’t, because you would miss the “ah ha” moments! This is also when vocabulary is introduced. They will start describing an observation and that is where you give them the new vocabulary word. This is what inquiry looks like in my classroom.
Inquiry is messy and loud. Just come by my room when it is taking place. No two experiments will look alike and some may honestly not look like much until the students communicate their findings with you.
The great thing about this job is I have been with my students for 4 years. They know know where all my science tools and materials are located. When they are developing their own investigation they know what is available and are not afraid to ask me for what they need. I have also learned when you first try inquiry it can flop but you have to keep trying. You know it has worked when at the conclusion they are coming up with the best “I wonder” statements. It has also worked when they are making connections from past investigations and applying their knowledge to new situations.
When students are designing their own investigations it gives them a sense of independence and ownership. When they are not told what to look for they pay attention to details more. Students discover concepts on their own, often are surprised by the outcomes, and their investigations are different from everyone else in the class. This creates a more memorable experience. They are able to describe their outcomes in more detail and this kind of learning leads them to wanting to investigate more.
So take your favorite science experiment, lead them to develop a question, remove the procedure and be prepared to be amazed and what they will come up with!
The Principal Ponders
Transforming Wonder Into Knowledge
I love this phrase – “Transforming Wonder Into Knowledge.” It’s not mine. I “stole” it from an online article I read, but I thought what a concise, yet powerful way to sum up inquiry learning. Take a minute to think of just a few of the amazing, innovative things that have come out of dedicated, relentless inquiry. A falling apple? A light beam? Simple curiosity and questioning led to the study of gravity and the development of the theory of relativity (e = mc2).
Right now in our classrooms, we have the next Isaac Newton & Albert Einstein – we have a responsibility as educators to help students turn their natural curiosity, their wonder, into knowledge that can transform into understandings that promote further inquiry.
Inquiry learning is simply another best practice to add to your toolbox. What is unique about inquiry learning is that it focuses on the students’ questions, ideas, and observations. This will involve students conducting open-ended investigations, problem-solving, and providing evidence-based solutions for their findings. As Lisa mentioned, this can be messy……and loud. But one thing I am willing to bet? Students are engaged.
The goal of the teacher is to assist students in surpassing their initial curiosity to a place of inquiry. This is an important component that needs to be modeled. Students need to see teachers showing them how to provide, as well as extend their ideas, how to question effectively, and how to examine their own ideas at a deeper level.
The message conveyed is the idea that both teachers and students share responsibility for learning.