I really want to allow students the opportunity engage in science by doing science, asking their own questions that connect to subject about which they are passionate. This takes time and follow through, and when I only get to have students for one period a week, this is a challenge. With my position as an instructional coach, I hope to be able to work with teachers to find more opportunities for co-teaching time so that I have more opportunities to encourage my students to be scientists by doing science.

Right now, I am focusing on planning and carrying out investigations. I think this really makes science class fun and engaging to students. It also helps them understand the topics more when they are the ones actually conducting the investigation. They are more likely to learn and remember when they do a hands-on activity.

In my setting, I think that engaging students' natural curiosity and giving them ownership over their questions and answers will be most important.

The "I Wonder" board is a great idea and can be used not only for science, but it could be adapted to foster curiosity about literature, history, geography, etc.

I want to get my kiddos asking more questions and feel comfortable posing them.  I feel like they're used to being handed information and/or directions in school.  I would like them to remember what it feels like to wonder things.  I'm thinking about having them start a question/wondering journal.  They could jot things down throughout the day that they wonder about.  I think it might be slow at first, but once they get in the routine of realizing they can ask questions the inquiry process will be much more kid led and much more exciting to them.

I think best practices will be developed through more work with students but for now I plan to work within the new CDC guidelines and still have as open a learning environment as possible where students are given time, materials, guidance, and space to pursue their own interests and be creative while tracking their work and collecting data if appropriate. We'll use journals to record all possible ideas, creations, and more.

I think in my setting as a language teacher, it is important to teach my students the language of practice in science, not just vocabulary of content, which is what they are used to.  Then learning about the language structures of inquiry and research...how can they use the terminology they've learned to describe the processes they see in the natural world and then also the processes they go through as an observer and researcher?  Before all that, developing questions in relation to inquiry is also important...how do we phrase those questions we want to ask?  Again, as a language teacher, these genres of speaking and writing are essential and beneficial, and tie in beautifully with citizen science and inquiry-based learning.

As a classroom educator, I want to incorporate and provide citizen science activities that are authentic and inspiring (link down).

For me the positioning youth as people who do science would be the most important in my setting. The county I live in is focused on test scores and teachers are required to adhere to the curriculum and be sure all standards are taught with limited time for anything extra. STEM learning is part of the curriculum and this would allow students to do real science. And citizen science would be an additional option if time allowed.

Honestly, I think both of them are important and can be easily adaptable and incorporated in what I am already doing now.  Having 50% reduced class size is going to help also in executing real inquiry studies and CS projects.

I want to incorporate more "I wonder"boards-- especially before they go outside so that we have a basis for discussion in later- research.

I use a lot of these practices right now. As a science teacher, Scientific Inquiry is the basis of my teaching. Citizen Science would be an integral and important part of my students' experience. It will enhance the feeling of ownership of their findings when they can share their information even further. I like the concept of "I WonderBoards" boards and plan on having one handy!

I plan on incorporating more "I Wonder" board activities into the beginning of my outdoor programs with families. Instead of telling them what I think we might see on a walk, I'll ask them what they think they might see, document what we do see, and compare it to the initial list. I will also try to document their questions along the way, then review which ones we answered through observation, and consider which ones we didn't answer and how we might go about finding those answers.

Hello Administrators. Just an FYI that the link for the article noted above:  "Science Investigation and Developing Students’ Science Process Skills Through Citizen Science" is not working.  When the link is opened we are sent to NSTA but get a message "Page Not Found".

I don't have a formal background in education, but apparently I've naturally tended towards inquiry based learning, so it was nice to be affirmed in what I've been doing as well as see a more developed framework for the approach to enhance the class/group experience. As to a specific item - I will definitely be using the Vultures: See or Smell as it succinctly (and memorably!) captures so many aspects of the scientific process: beyond the basics of observation, questioning, developing investigation, conclusion but also the importance of repeating and continuing to refine and that even 'great' scientists get things 'wrong'. As the current pandemic has shown, even a surprising amount of adults in our society are uncomfortable with the lack of  a single, straightforward, definitive answer to a myriad of aspects of a novel disease.

"Learn science by going science." Yes!! This is a motto that I use as an educator daily.  I always say innovating and solving local problems in the biological classroom by doing real science is the only way to make sense out of science. Creating the "I Wonder" board and discussing what is science are two great ways to prime the minds of young people to start thinking like investigators.

I think in my setting, as an informal educator at a wildlife refuge, the most important practice would be to frame the project locally and globally. This will further help students connect with their local habitats, and realize that everything we do here connects to the bigger-picture globally.

My students are 4 and 5 years old. My approach will need to be modified to meet the needs of early learners and, since I teach at a School for the Deaf, a lot of our focus is on language acquisition in American Sign Language and written English. My program is largely outdoors (garden, woodlot, playground, conservation areas) where developmentally appropriate open inquiry is the most common practice. The Ontario Kindergarten Program runs for 2 years and is play-based which provides plenty of opportunity for open inquiry that is 100% student-centred. Of course, there are still some teacher-led segments of each day, but they are very short with a very specific goal in mind, and are not to interrupt a student's natural learning when they are "in the zone" of their own deep play. "Play" is a child's work and it is my job to infuse that play with new provocations and opportunities for deeper inquiry, learning and skill development through their two years with me. Confirmation, structured and guided inquiry are used less in my daily practice. Now I have a greater appreciation for the role of this type of inquiry with young students and will employ them more often and with greater attention to detail during our teacher-directed segments of the day.

As an informal educator in a nature center, I am able to provide a lot of hands-on learning in the park. We often do citizen science events, but not as much in a smaller program setting. I feel that I need to bring more inquiry into our smaller programs. I like the idea of the "I Wonder" board. While I can't always incorporate the scientific process in activities and crafts that I lead, I believe that an "I Wonder" board could fit well into any program! The kids can contribute questions to the board throughout the program and at the end we can discuss the questions and how we would go about finding the answers. This way, the kids can take these ideas home with them and work on finding answers as an at-home extension.

The NGSS Science practices are important for my students to understand and use so those 8 practices will be an important part of our process. I like starting with just getting outside, because that is where observation can happen, and then develop into a more formal structure of documenting observations. I also use John Muir Laws I wonder, I notice... observation tool https://johnmuirlaws.com/product/observation-question-stickers/ It is handy as we begin to formalize our observations and questions. I like the I Wonder board idea and will try that out. I also like the whole idea of exploring the kinds of questions on our board and how we can classify them to better understand which ones require research, exploring current data, observational study or experimentation. Analyzing questions will better help students identify the kinds of questions we would use specifically for some type of investigation or experiment vs reading/researching and why that is important. I do think parts of Lesson 2 from Investigating Evidence would be better to do first, such as drawing a scientist. Part of the reason is because it does serve as a kind of pre-assessment and that can be really useful when you are trying to gauge change in student understanding over time. I can do a lot of what I want because my district doesn't have specific science curriculum. We have old textbooks, but I am free to do what I want for the most part. I will teach energy, geology, waves, and structure and function as these are part of the 4th grade NGSS standards. I also teach grade 4 in California which means that  I will be teaching California History and I also teach California natural history as part of this, along with California's Indigenous Peoples. So there is a lot of opportunity to explore native flora and fauna while enjoying schoolyard and outdoor classroom walks, and engaging students in investigations.

I'm currently not in a position to provide an inquiry-based learning project. The case study based on the Lost Ladybug Project was a great model I would like to emulate. I like the point that the teacher should be the facilitator to guide students through a citizen science project. As a facilitator, the educator should help team members take on roles that take advantage of their strengths. Having a student or student(s) find a skill that they excel at, and that can be highlighted during the project would be wonderful outcome in addition to any other outcomes provided by the other three educator practices.

Since I work as a non-formal educator and the students I see, I am adding to their classroom instruction or reinforcing what they are learning in the classroom. I feel it is best to encourage students through their observations, making personal connections, and try to add in the wonder board, since the wonder board would be something I would be able to leave with students for them to add to and the teacher can also follow through with for the remainder of the topic related discussions. Also, this may allow for me to come back and elaborate with students on their observations and may allow for my current lessons to be taken more into the inquiry/citizen science project levels.

We use the FOSS kits with my district;I have not yet gotten to view them so I'm not sure how much inquiry they involve or whether they ask students to complete a lab where the teacher poses the question, tells them how to complete the lab and record date, and then moves on.  If so, then I would really like to incorporate either CS and inquiry-learning into the curriculum.  I love the idea of a Wonder board and know that I have access to an outdoor classroom, so I can imagine using that space as a place to observe nature to develop questions and to engage into CS.  I also really want to incorporate the idea of empowering students as scientists.  Before I took over my fifth grade classroom in October last year, the prior long-term sub had students fill out a poster telling what kind of scientist they would like to be when they grow up;  I could see instead, researching, interviewing, or skyping with actual scientists in the field to learn what different types of scientists there are, but then asking students to develop poster/journal on each type of scientists and brainstorm ways that they can practice being that type of scientist through our CS and inquiry-based learning, for example, one big unit for sixth grade is weather patterns.  We could learn about the different kinds of weather scientists there are and then develop/complete CS or inquiry-based lessons that help students practice being that type of scientist.  This way they can be a scientist, not just help a scientist, which in turn will empower them to engage in science and develop a deepen understanding of weather (I hope).  I also really want to develop ways to use the ideas of students as experts who can teach other students, adults, or community members what they know.  In our school, the sixth graders have typically completed a co-taught egg hatching unit with first graders.  I think it would be great to have students use the CS and inquiry-based learning ideals to become the experts who teach the first graders.  I also really want to find more ways to have my students use what they learn in our school and local community.

I would love to do what was discussed in Lesson 1 with observations and development of the I Wonder board.  I had an opportunity to experience this first-hand through a Project Wild workshop through my local park district.  We walked around the park, came up with several questions, and then chose one to study.  It was very open-ended and would easily work in my suburban schoolyard. I also like the drawing of a scientist even for my high school students.  I think it is important to encourage students of all types to consider themselves capable of becoming scientists and their stereotypes may interfere with that.  From the webinar last week I think it would be great to incorporate guest speakers of all types so students can meet real scientists and recognize their diversity.

Since I work at a nature center, the most important way we can help layer upon classroom instruction is to encourage students to make observations. We regularly chat about what a scientist looks like and what scientists do - calling attention to alternative careers beyond the mad scientist cliche image. So far this unit has helped me understand just how important it is for students to be involved in the entire process, from proposing the question to recording the data and then the dissemintation of results. Although we don't always have time ffor this entire process in a single-day visit, I think this approach would work well for summer camps and youth mentor groups.