Science as inquiry

If I had influence with the good fairy…I should ask that her gift to each child in the world would be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.

Rachel Carson (1987)

To gain a deeper understanding of:

The essential features of inquiry How inquiry is facilitated by the 5 Es How inquiry promotes the key features of

How People Learn How inquiry supports learning in both

mathematics and science

Inquiry Continuum

Place yourself on the continuum from ‘open’ inquiry to ‘guided’ inquiry.

Explain to the person next to you why you placed yourself as you did.

Report out in pairs.

How does the ‘engage’ phase of the learning cycle relate to key ideas from How People Learn?

In collaborative groups of three, assign roles (Tracks Handbook, pages 83–84).

Observe the worms. What are you curious about?

What are you wondering?

Write a question, prediction, and simple plan. Do your investigation. What are your claims and evidence? What is your conclusion?

Think about your worm experiment. Complete the first three or four pages of the Instructional Scaffold for Experimentation.

What are the essential features of classroom inquiry?

Read pages 24–29 in Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards (NSES).

Think about your worm experiment.Where does it fit on Table 2-6 on page 29?

Look at the Tracks lesson. Where does it fit on Table 2-6 on page 29?

Read the following five statements.Write true or false.

1. All science matter should be taught through inquiry.

2. True inquiry occurs only when students generate and pursue their own questions.

3. Inquiry teaching occurs easily through use of hands-on or kit-based instructional materials.

4. Student engagement in hands-on activities guarantees that inquiry teaching and learning are occurring.

5. Inquiry can be taught without attention to subject matter.

What statements were true?

Stand Up and Pair Up to debrief.

Read pages 42–44. Begin with last paragraph, second column:

“When the worm shipment…” End with first paragraph, second column:

“…she would check on them later.”

What are the essential features of inquiry

used by Ms. Flores?

12

Complete “Gots and Needs.” Tomorrow’s reading assignment—Check

the bookmark in your new book on differentiation.

Tidy your area.See you tomorrow!