Taking a guided inquiry approach to ‘cookie mining’ activity an initial question was posed:

Inquiry unit Cookie mining

Inquiry skills

focus

Observation skills

Communication with peers. Partner work.

Student

group

Y9 (14 year olds). Lower set. Working in groups of

7/8 mixed gender.

Inexperienced in IBSE & limited practical science.

Stand alone 45 min inquiry lesson: Focus was

‘learning about inquiry skills’

A case study

Select ONE biscuit each and note all of its features. After a couple of minutes your biscuits will be mixed up with a plate of biscuits and you will be asked to find it. How can you do it?

Setting the context & emphasising that good observations are accurate and use many senses involved sharing a a video of a police artist drawing from a witness description followed by them describing everyday objects to each other - to draw

Discuss with others how you went about this task and

what helped you recognize your biscuit again

Give the description to your partner for them to

find it or draw it!

Assessment of inquiry skills using a rubric as part of the judgement process

The emphasis was on developing their observational skills through their active engagement and assessing these skills as part of the teaching and learning process. Doing rather than writing!The students quickly recognised the importance of specific language and how measurements helped to make accurate observations.

Some of the students were observed using a clock face to describe noticeable features of their cookie. Others divided it up into quarters and described a section at a time. This was similar to the way they had been taught in a previous biology lesson. As the lesson progressed it was clear that their language became more specific and they came up with vocabulary to describe certain features that they all began to understand and use. They learnt from each other and collaborated well and stayed focussed for a sustained period of time. The students had time to share their approaches and techniques and discuss which worked well and why. This discussion was a key part of the inquiry process.

Emerging Developing Consolidating Extending

Observing Objects described

by their

uses/function and

not by their

physical properties

Can identify key

properties but

done in a random

order with no logic

e.g. describing left

side then right side

then back to left.

Uses a range of

techniques that

sometimes work

accurately but still

a trial and error

process.

Have developed a

refined range of

techniques that

consistently works

accurately

Communicating Limited vocabulary Descriptions are

vague and do not

use specific

vocabulary e.g. lots

of chocolate chips

as opposed to

saying there are

10.

Have a bank of

vocabulary that

describes their

observation and

can they can

articulate

themselves.

Have a bank of

vocabulary,

including new

terms that have

been created and

are understood by

all, so can describe

their observations

articulately

Assessment was done by:Teacher observing : Who took the lead roles or dominated? Who was very passive? How do they relate to each other?Probing questions to tease out understanding ; Tell my why you chose xxx. Explain a bit more about your reasons for xxx Great care was taken not to give directions or imply right or wrong answers but prompt discussionTeacher active listening: Looking for them using techniques they had been taught in previous lessons or building on their previous knowledge or ideas from peers

Next time I’ll do this with Y7!

Next time we will mine the cookies

for chocolate chips & see how they go

about an open inquiry!