Co-funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union

”A model for enquiry based learning in the classroom"

Iris Nijman & Wouter Schrier TEMI National Project Managers, Leiden University, the Netherlands nijman@strw.leidenuniv.nl | schrier@strw.leidenuniv.nl

TEMI

•  Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated •  EU-funded 3-year project: Help introduce enquiry-based learning in

classrooms and improve student engagement and skills –  Project started in 2013 –  11 countries (Coordinator @ Queen Mary University London) –  Secondary school –  Interdisciplinary: Science –  Teacher Trainings –  Development of Educational Material

TEMI

•  Enquiry-based learning to develop crucial intellectual skills: –  Motivates to pose questions about the natural world and

investigate phenomena –  Students learn to construct their own understanding based

on hands-on and minds-on experiences –  Reflect on experiences, communicate your thinking –  Focus not just on the science, but the processes of science –  Science is more than memorizing facts

TEMI

4 innovations:

Mysteries - curiosity, motivation

5E-cycle - explore and evaluate learning

Showmanship - presentation techniques

Gradual Release of Responsibilities (GRR)

16

Engage ExplainCAPTURE STUDENTS’ AT TENTION

WHAT’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE MYSTERY ?

ExploreCOLLECT DATA FROM E XPERIMENTS

The teacher half fills two plastic zip-lock bags with a starch solution. The class will agree that the bag does not allow any solution to leak out. These bags will then be placed in two beakers, both of which contain a clear substance. What the students don’t know is that one of the beakers has an iodine solution in it. When placed in the iodine, a colour change will occur. A blue-black colour will spread out inside the bag. Students are asked to record what they observe.

The bag does not allow water or starch molecules to pass through. However, the iodine molecules are small enough to pass through the tiny pores in the bag. This activity may be used to describe a semi-permeable membrane as well as the effect of diffusion (the iodine will diffuse throughout the starch solution). It does not describe the action of osmosis, as water molecules are not allowed to move through the semi-permeable membrane. This will be explored in the extend section.

Why does one beaker change colour while the other doesn’t?

What do we know about starch and a blue-black colour?

Why did the iodine move into the bag and why didn’t the starch move out?

How did the iodine pass through the bag if the starch and water did not?

What would happen if we used different types of bags/membranes?

ExtendWHAT OTHER REL ATED ARE AS CAN BE E XPLORED?

The teacher informs the students that some membranes allow the movement of all molecules, some membranes don’t allow the movement of any molecules, and some allow movement of a few molecules. This depends on the size of the molecules.

The students are informed that they must test the three membranes provided (Visking tubing, tea/coffee filters, and glass tiles). All they know is that one is permeable, one isn’t, and that one is semi-permeable. The students work in groups of three to devise an experiment that shows the movement of concentrated substances across the three different membranes.

The pupils must recap the difference between high concentrations and low concentrations.

THE 5E MODEL

Guidance notes for teachers

3 1

CHEMICAL SEESAW

CHEM

ISTR

Y

The engage part of the lesson shows a discrepant event: students will see the mass of the paper decreasing and assume it will be the same when

iron burns. Use this to add surprise and intrigue to the lesson so that students are motivated to find out why this happened.

Demonstrated enquiry (level 0): this takes place during explore 1. The teacher goes through how to use the construct explanations lifeline in order to explain the chemical reaction that occurs when magnesium burns.

Each step is explained: » Write down your observations.

» Recall any relevant science ideas.

» Connect idea to observation.

» Does this idea help to explain your observation?

» Write a clear and organised explanation.

Structured enquiry (level 1): this takes place during explore 2. The students work without the teacher’s guidance to explain why the mass of iron increased when it was burnt in air. They use the lifeline and the guidance they received during explore 1 to do this.

Solving the mystery: students are led towards the explanation by using ideas about how atoms are rearranged during chemical reactions.

Instructions on how to build the balance equipment:

www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-physics/simple-balance-2

ShowmanshipTIPS ON HOW TO TE ACH AND PRESENT THIS MYSTERY

GRRTE ACHING SKILLS USING GRADUAL RELE ASE OF RESPONSIBILIT Y

Resources

3 5

Students should know:» Elements in a mixture retain their properties:

elements do not retain their own properties when in a compound.

» There is a chemical change when a mixture is formed into a compound.

» This conservation of properties may often be used to separate components in a mixture.

Students should be able to:

» Explain why it is possible to ingest table salt (NaCl), even though the two elemental components are highly reactive and poisonous. From the experimental investigation with iron and sulphur, students should know that compounds have new properties: the elements do not retain their own properties.

» Carry out an investigation on the iron levels in different cereals and compare the results with the levels shown on the cereal packet labels.

EvaluateCHECK THE LE VEL OF STUDENT SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING

E ATING NAILS

CHEM

ISTR

Y

Comparison of mixtures and compounds (2): Students can be provided with different colour plastic building blocks (e.g. Lego). Each colour represents a different element. The students can use these to make concrete representations of the mixture (e.g. two or more different colour blocks not joined together) or a compound (e.g. two or more different colour blocks joined together).

Real-life application Iron is an essential mineral. It is found in haemoglobin in red blood cells. It is needed for the transportation of oxygen from the lungs around the body. If the body does not have enough iron, it cannot make enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells. This deficiency is called anaemia.

Healthy red blood cells and sufficient oxygen is important to prevent fatigue. Athletes need sufficient oxygen supply in their blood and muscles to maximise their performance and prevent fatigue. Blood doping is a method of increasing the number of red blood cells in the body. This allows more oxygen to be carried to the muscles.

When extracting the iron from the cereal with the ‘magic wand’, it is important not to tell the students what they should expect. All the students

should know is that the teacher thinks it is possible to make the invisible visible. Allow the students to observe what is extracted from the cereal for themselves.

ShowmanshipTIPS ON HOW TO TE ACH AND PRESENT THIS MYSTERY

Students will learn about the following skills through the GRR model:

» Separating techniques.

» Experimental work.

» Predict, observe, and explain procedures.

» Project and group work.

GRRTE ACHING SKILLS USING GRADUAL RELE ASE OF RESPONSIBILIT Y

THE 5E MODEL

A mystery: o  Provides affective engagement to the students; o  Generates curiosity and leads to questions; o  Generates a cognitive conflict; o  Creates scientific knowledge; o  Requires the students to use enquiry skills to explain

the mystery.

1. Mystery

Wonder is the seed of knowledge Francis Bacon “ ”

The National Science Education Standards (NSES, 1996) in the USA provides the following definition of enquiry:

Inquiry is a set of interrelated processes by which scientists and students pose questions about the natural world and investigate phenomena; in doing so, students acquire knowledge and develop a rich understanding of concepts, principles, models, and theories. Inquiry is a critical component of a science program at all grade levels and in every domain of science, and designers of curricula and programs must be sure that the approach to content, as well as the teaching and assessment strategies, reflect the acquisition of scientific understanding through inquiry. Students then will learn science in a way that reflects how science actually works.

The standards outline six aspects that are pivotal to enquiry learning in science education:

1 Students should be able to recognize that science is more than memorizing and knowing facts.

2 Students should have the opportunity to develop new knowledge that builds on their prior nowledge and scientific ideas.

3 Students will develop new knowledge by restructuring their previous understandings of scientific concepts and adding new information earned.

4 Learning is influenced by students’ social environment whereby they have an opportunity to learn from each other.

5 Students will take control of their learning.6 The extent to which students are able to learn with

deep understanding will influence how transferable their new knowledge is to real-life contexts.

Enquiry-based learning is based on a constructivist model: students learn to construct their own understanding based on previous experiences through hands-on and minds-on interaction with phenomena and other students. They understand by reflecting on their experiences, communicating their thinking and learning to make connections between their own experience and the real world. The focus is not just on the science content but equally on the processes of science.This implies a change in the teacher’s role. Instead of an instructor, the teacher acts as a coach who carefully scaffolds the constructivist learning processes of the students.

The 5E model

The 5E model is one of a number of models of enquiry, but it has been widely adopted and used as a framework for the TEMI project. The 5E model is a learning cycle with five elements: it may be seen as a continuous cycle (Figure 1a) or one where the 5th stage, Evaluation, feeds into the other four stages continuously instead of just at the end (Figure 1b).

Explore

Engage

Evaluate

Explain

Elaborate

Different representations of the 5E model

figure 1

[a] [b]

The 5E Learning

Cycle

Exploration Explanation

Eng

agem

ent

Elaboration

Evaluation

18 19

2. 5E - Cycle

Evaluation stage feeds into the other 4 stages continuously

•  Learning cycle with five elements

•  Framework to support enquiry-based learning

•  Guideline for teachers and students

•  Prevent teachers from giving answers too quickly

Many analogies between the role of a teacher and that of an actor :

•  Facing an audience •  Convey a message in a convincing and

memorable manner •  Improvise if something takes an unexpected

turn

3. Showmanship

Enquiry Level

Type Question Procedure Solution

1 Confirmation Teacher Teacher Teacher

2 Structured Teacher Teacher Student

3 Guided Teacher Student Student

4 Open-ended Student Student Student

4. Gradual Release of Responsibilities

•  Student becomes more able to carry out own independent enquiry

•  Role of teacher becomes less instructive, more enabling

•  TEMI Methodology

•  4 Innovations •  Free to download:

http://teachingmysteries.eu

Teaching the TEMI way

How using mysteries supports science learning

TEMI Booklet “Teaching the TEMI way"

•  Mysteries for all science subjects

•  Mysteries produced by

partners

•  Peer-reviewed by teachers

•  Free to download: http://teachingmysteries.eu CLASSROOM SCIENCE ACTIVITIES TO

SUPPORT STUDENT ENQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

TEMI Resource Book “The Book of Science Mysteries"

1 1 5

DOMAIN(S)

Physics, mathematics, earth sciences, astronomy.

SUBDOMAIN KE Y WORDS

» Physics: (Radiative) energy

» Mathematics: (Spherical) geometry

» Earth sciences: Seasons

» Astronomy: Solar radiation Celestial mechanics

AGE GROUP

12 to 16 years old.

EXPECTED TIME FOR THE MYSTERY

Approximate time for teacher preparation: 15 min.

Approximate time in classroom: Two 45 min. lessons.

SAFET Y/SUPERVISION

No need.

Disclaimer: the authors of this teaching material will not be held responsible for any injury or damage to persons or properties that might occur in its use.

PREPAR ATION AND LIST OF MATERIALS

The teacher should watch the following videos, which explain the reason for the seasons. TEMI Youtube Channel: www.goo.gl/tUDaq5 playlist> Earth’s Tilt 1 playlist> Earth’s Tilt 2

Materials:» Terrestrial globe» Lamp/flashlight» Protractor (optional: the universe awareness

Earth ball).

LE ARNING OBJECTIVES

» Learn why there are seasons.

» Learn about solar energy on Earth and its dependence on the orbit of the Earth around the Sun.

Closer but colderWhat’s themystery?

Because of the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, it is farther away from the Sun in July than it is in January. Still, we have colder days in January

than in July. How is this possible?

Through this mystery, students will investigate the orbit of the Earth around the Sun and its influence on solar energy here on Earth. This will lead them to a deeper

understanding of the seasons on Earth.

~12 – 16 years Physics Astronomy Math

~16– 18 years Physics Astronomy Math

1 4 3

DOMAIN(S)

Physics.

SUBDOMAIN KE Y WORDS

Astronomy, optics, propagation of light.

AGE GROUP

16 to 18 years old.

EXPECTED TIME FOR THE MYSTERY

Approximate time in classroom: two 45 min. lessons.

SAFET Y/SUPERVISION

No need for safety measures.

Disclaimer: the authors of this teaching material will not be held responsible for any injury or damage to persons or properties that might occur in its use.

PREPAR ATION AND LIST OF MATERIALS

» Internet (for YouTube)

Experiment 1. Dispersion and refraction:» White flashlight (not LED)» Prism» Glass of water, straw

Experiment 2. Scattering of light: » White flashlight (not LED)» Large transparent container of water (~10 l) » Cup of whole milk (not skimmed)

LE ARNING OBJECTIVES

» Learn about the light scattering properties of the atmosphere.

» Learn about the refracting properties of the atmosphere and other mediums.

» Learn why the day sky is blue.

» Learn why the sky turns red during a sunset.

» Learn why the Moon turns red during a lunar eclipse.

Red MoonWhat’s themystery?

When the Moon travels through the Earth’s shadow, sunlight is blocked. However, instead of turning completely dark, the Moon gets a reddish

colour. How is this possible?

Impact Numbers

11 Countries

53 Trainings

932 Teachers trained

1190 Hours of Training

Lessons learned •  Timeittakestodevelophighqualityproducts/resources

•  Methodology vs. Material

•  Methodology vs. School Board / Curriculum

Questions? Iris Nijman & Wouter Schrier TEMI National Project Managers nijman@strw.leidenuniv.nlschrier@strw.leidenuniv.nl Twitter: @teachmysteries Online: www.teachingmysteries.eu