Michelle

I agree that it can be difficult to identify species, especially as a newly to birding. I found that setting a camera up allows me to observe and not worry as much if the bird is going to fly away before I identify it. It also lets me go back and make observations I might have missed initially.

I also have to think about questions in advance so I don't fall into the trap of closed ended questions. I find that throughout the year I also find students using open ended questions during discussions.

Sound maps could be a great link into art. Students who hear the same thing could have different visual interpretations.

The sound map was a helpful activity for me to thoughtfully observe what I cannot see. I knew we have planes that fly by and I live close to a large street but I did not expect to hear so many sirens or planes. It forced me to focus on things I normally would tune out. I would use this similar technique to encourage my students to observe the world more fully. It is very easy for us to focus on the visible aspects, that sometimes we forget to focus on our other senses. This is also a good way to include students with visual disabilities into the group as leaders in an activity where they might excel since they have learned not to rely on visual stimulus.

Engaging in citizen science projects is a good introduction into inquiry based learning in the classroom. Reading through both lessons of Investigating Evidence I noticed a significant overlap of science practices. One of the practices I am going to keep at the forefront is "positioning youth as people who do science". Through observation and data collection students will be engaged in working towards a larger goal. They will also have opportunities for coming up with their own questions. I like how the first lesson has students focus on observation and posing questions without the weight of having to find answers for them. Through time students are able to using multiple methods to answer the questions. Questions that students think are important or keep coming back to are the ones that they can later focus on and answer. It is a natural process that they authentically engage in.

Of the three teaching practices that are recommended in Real Science in the palm of your hand the one I will model in my teaching is "position youth as people who do science". Creating various roles within groups and providing students with leadership opportunities is one way the authors shared could assist in this. I have found that many students are not confident about themselves and this can be seen in their resistance to engage in new academic challenges. Engaging in a citizen science project where they learn to identify the quality of the data and get to learn from each other could be a great opportunity for them to gain confidence and see themselves as active participants in science. The second practice of framing the work globally and locally helps affirm a student's identity as a person who does science. If they are answering a question and providing some type of feedback on the local level it can affirm a belief that they are scientists.

I have not participated in a citizen science project but plan to in the future. I noticed that the citizen science projects align with student inquiry projects. Two that I would love to incorporate into my course are Celebrate Urban Birds and Project Feeder Watch. Both projects lend themselves to having student engage in observations and identification of species. After submitting our observations I plan for students to come up with their own questions to investigate based off of their observations. They would then work in groups to create a procedure to help them answer the question, analyze their results and share their findings.

During a unit on Forces students worked on finding a relationship between force and mass. The question and method were provided for them. Students kept the acceleration the same in the procedure by using the same ramp and starting spheres of different masses at the top and measuring the distance the sphere would move an empty cup once it was hit by the sphere at the bottom of the ramp. Students were working at the second level of inquiry since they were given the question and method and had to explain the results using data. The science practices they engaged in were carrying out investigations, collecting and interpreting data, and constructing explanations. One way I could modify the lesson to make it even more inquiry based is by having students create "what if" and "I wonder" questions and sharing within their groups to choose one. After choosing one they could take time to create their own procedure to test their question and then gather data to come up with an explanation. Throughout the process I would assist in reviewing their procedure to guide them towards one that will help answer their question. The science practices of Asking questions and Planning and Carrying out investigations would be supported with the adjustment as students were not involved fully in these practices in the first iteration of the activity.

Inquiry is a process of observing the world and figuring out the why or the how. Inquiry in science education allows for a lot more creativity and critical thinking as there are multiple ways to go about answering a question. Students are not limited to one procedure or one set of tools but instead use critical thinking skills to develop an experiment or conduct research.  People of all ages engage in inquiry even in an informal format. When I find a puddle of water by the sink I try to figure out why. Did someone spill? Is something leaking? Did a pet have an accident? From there it sparks investigation where I will go through a process to answer the question.