Taylor

I think that on of the key elements of assessment in inquiry-based projects is doing it throughout the process, and not just for the summative assessment. That way, students can receive a grade that reflects their learning throughout the process and not just how well they do on a single report. Anecdotal documentation is one way that I like to reflect student learning, as I can see how the students are developing over a period of time. Having learning goals that are clear and manageable are also important, so that all students can have a greater chance of success. Going over the learning goals with the students throughout the process and asking students about their own progress on them is a helpful strategy as well.

The citizen-science project I researched was Monarch Watch. Monarch Watch is all about monarch conservation and education. They use tagging data, which are little stickers that anyone can use to place on monarchs, to track their migration which gives scientists an understanding of how their population is doing. As well, they encourage people to make "Monarch Waystations" by making milkweed seeds (monarch caterpillar's only food source) available to schools and non-profit educational centres for free. The data they have on their website is available to everyone without a login. The tagging recoveries of the monarch butterflies are presented in a spreadsheet format so you can see what the tag number was, where and when it was found (including the specific geographic coordinates), and the names and notes of the person who submitted the tagging data. Students can definitely access the data, even if they have not participated before. One way students can use the data to conduct an investigation is to compare monarch populations over the last several years to see if there is an overall trend in population increase or decrease. Students can also compare where the monarchs are found, and determine if there is a trend in where most of the monarchs are being found. The data of this citizen-science project lends itself well to graphs.

I participated in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology eBird Citizen Science Project (using Merlin Bird ID). I really liked using this app because you don't have to go far to spot different birds (since I am unable to go far due to covid-19 lockdowns this was a positive) and can just record sightings from your backyard. I didn't have a particular challenge, but it would be nice to do this project in a more natural setting without the hustle of the city cars. Students will learn a lot about different bird species, and will also learn more specifically about the birds that live near the school and in their neighbourhood. I think that students will also learn about their ability to contribute to science and will help them position themselves as scientists.

I live in an urban centre, and what I found impactful was how many 'nature sounds' I could still hear even amongst the roar of nearby cars. Despite the sounds of the city I could still here songbirds, the wind, and the rustling of leaves, and I bet if I sat for longer I would hear more animals as well. I think that this is a really great acclimatization activity for kids, as it really gets them more engaged in their environment. I think scavenger hunts can be a really fun way to have children observe the natural world more fully, especially if you include smaller natural items that people don't always consider, because you really have to use observational skills. Another way I think you can engage children in observing the natural world more fully is by doing a "5 Senses" treasure hunt in which you get the children to find objects that correspond with a different sense (however, don't let them actually taste anything, just hypothetically tasty). For example, you can ask students to find something that is smooth and allow them to compare their items. 

All three of the teaching practices that UC David recommends are important, but the one that stood out to me the most was "position youth as people who do science". This really resonates with me as an educator, because I have witnessed students feeling powerless or incapable of accomplishing different subject matter, and I think that citizen-science is really great for empowering students. By helping students take on meaningful roles in the citizen-science projects, they will value their contributions more and value themselves as well. I want to focus on modelling this teaching practice because I want my students to feel empowered and work on ways they want to contribute to their local and global community. One way I think I can incorporate this more is by taking my students outside more, and providing them with more opportunities to collect data and create their own procedures for doing so. In this sense it would be more student-lead than me just telling them exactly what to do.

One of the lessons I did with a Kindergarten class was a vinegar and baking soda eruption experiment. The question and the procedure were provided to the students, but the solution was not so students had the opportunity to provide their theories and hypotheses to the class. This would be the structured level of inquiry, because I did provide the students with the question and procedure instead of having students formulate their own questions and procedures. Through this experiment, students were able to learn about the scientific process and learn about formulating hypotheses and theories about what they thought the solution would be. I think that this experiment could easily be made into a guided inquiry lesson in which I could pose the question about what happens when you mix the substances, and allow the students to figure out how they want to proceed in the experiment. Although Kindergarteners are young, their natural curiousity and openness to learning allows them to figure out a lot of interesting ways of completing tasks that adults may not even have thought of! By allowing the students to figure out their own procedure, they would have developed a deeper understanding of how procedures are formulated in the scientific process.