Amy

I order to assess a student's understanding in an inquiry-based learning investigation I believe using a rubric would be the most clear solution.  Creating a rubric that depicts that child's age level will give students the information they will need to design and implement an experiment based on their question.  Students will also need the teacher to explain each individual section of the rubric, the point value, and give examples and nonexamples of (previous investigations or ones created by the teacher for samples) investigations.  In viewing these examples students will develop a better understanding of what the expectations are.  I really like the idea of having the students create some type of presentation.  Our district did an online training from our local AEA on utilizing the Seesaw app.  Seesaw is the way my building K-2 will be communicating with parents and students if we need to do online learning at any point during the upcoming school year.  I think this would be an excellent program for first graders to use to report their science discoveries whether they are doing the work at school or at home if distance learning is put into place.  Students could use this Seesaw app to draw pictures, take photographs with their tablets of their experiment and the data they collect, and they can record themselves with a video to explain their question, investigation, and results.  For students that do not feel comfortable video taping themselves, they could use just audio to add a conversation to the pictures that they upload.  Depending on the teacher's preference, these presentations that are added to each student's journal on Seesaw can be shared with the teacher only or can be shared with the class and student's families so all students can view and learn from each other.

I have not led any inquiry-based activities in my classroom.  Since I have not led or assessed these types of activities I will reflect on some challenges that I think I would face.  In many of the articles that I have read and from prior experience with how children think, I believe students will learn best when they are the ones creating the questions, designing the experiments and investigations, and collecting the data.  I teach six and seven year old students in my first grade class.  Since inquiry-based activities would be new them, I anticipate some confidence issues with students and some who just want me to tell them how to do everything.  It will be challenging for me to step back.  While I will still be modeling my expectations, giving positive encouragement and feedback, and supporting them through the process, I will need to hold off to let this be their investigation and discovery.  This inquiry process is developed over time and with much practice.  I will need to remind myself that time, patience, and flexibility are essential in order for this process to be successful.  Teaching my students how to do peer and self assessments would be a great component to add to this process.  I also feel that since I've typically done only summative assessments with first graders in science that moving to dynamic assessment would be very beneficial for them.  This would give them the opportunity to make adjustments to their project based on feedback from myself and their classmates.  While all these suggestions are great, my biggest challenge in all of this will be the time that it will take to teach, model, coach, and provide practice opportunities to develop this new way of thinking.

I researched the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project.  This citizen science project monitors monarch population density and fosters monarch habitat and conservation.  Participants in this study record the location, date, time frame, number of milkweed plants observed, and the number of eggs and larva on each plant. The database is accessible, it's free, and is available without creating a login.  Anyone can use this data and students would be able to access the information as well.  Younger children would need assistance from an adult while older children would be able to search and utilize the data independently. There are so many search features with this site.  I tried accessing the data for Iowa.  I selected the state, chose the year 2020, and specified a specific location in Ames (Ada Hayden).  From there I could view all years 2011-2019 that data was collected from this site.  They did not have 2020 data available yet.  From there I could view a bar graph that measured Monarch density in that area.  The data was collected every seven days.  I was able to view how many eggs and larva were observed and could see the weeks that the density was higher than others. We have a butterfly garden at our school with many milkweed plants.  My students and I could participate in this citizen science project to learn about the monarch population around our school.  We could then compare our data to areas surrounding our town in Iowa and even other states.

Before a science unit or project begins I like to provide a "Hook" activity to get my kids excited about the new topic of study!  These hook activities that my colleagues and I created are meant to spark the student's curiosity and to get them asking questions about what they see.  For example before we teach our Plant Parts and Survival unit we show them a PowerPoint slide show of some really crazy looking trees.  Some are growing sideways, some have huge roots that are growing above the ground, and some trunks have twisted around other trees.  The minute they see these pictures they start talking to their classmates.  Usually someone shouts out "How did it get like that?"  Since many children have never seen trees like these (myself included) they have lots of questions.  Getting young children to share observational and experimental questions requires modeling.  My job is to help them reframe their question or guide their question so it becomes observational or experimental. After the "Hook" activity we can take it to the next step by making observations about the trees and plants around us at school.  Students could then formulate questions to be placed on the I Wonder board about the nature they see around them.

For this activity I searched the SciStarter Project Finder and chose to do a citizen science project called Project Squirrel.  This activity had me select a date and specific time of day to observe the squirrels from an area of my choice.  I specified the type and of number of squirrels I found, what type of trees were surrounding the area, and answered some other questions to provide this site with more detailed information about my surroundings.  I did not encounter any challenges with this citizen science project. If my students were to participate in this project I could see this turning into something we could do at school and something that they could do at home with their families.  The variables involved would make for some interesting discussion. (Were any of the trees around the observation site nut bearing?  Are there bird feeders in the area?  Are dogs, cats, coyotes, or other wild animals around this area that might affect the number of squirrels you see?)  Making observations throughout the different seasons would be interesting to compare as well.  In my own experience we see many more squirrels in the fall when our oak tree drops acorns.  This was a citizen science project had clear directions and would be something my first graders would love to participate in.  This would also connect well to our Animal Survival unit.

I believe that we can be catalysts for our students by modeling.  Sometimes students don't understand how to ask a question.  As educators we want them to feel confident in what they ask.  The observations and thoughts that they wonder about are important to them.  It's essential that we accept the ideas and questions that they present.  I think the "I Wonder" board is such a powerful way to show that all questions are valued.  When teaching students about the "I Wonder" board it's important in the beginning to model the difference between open-ended questions and closed questions.  The open-ended questions will lead in turn lead to a richer discussion and will make it easier for children to conduct investigations and research about the topic being studied.  In order for questions to occur we need to provide our students with experiences that allow them to observe and wonder about the world around them.  Outdoor activities, nature walks, and watching video clips about a particular topic are things that educators can do to with their students.  The more time and opportunities students are allowed to ask questions, the more experience they will have with asking open-ended questions.

Creating this sound map was a great way to tune out all my other senses and focus on my sense of sound.  I personally have a difficult time sitting still and feel that I need to always be doing something.  This activity gave me a chance to relax and just absorb what was around me.  It was very peaceful.  The longer I listened the more I was able to specifically pick out sounds that would normally be blended into the background.  Most of the sounds that I heard would be ones that I would typically not notice.  For example, when I took the time to listen I heard four different bird chirps.  It truly is amazing how many individual sounds a person can hear in such a short amount of time.  I did this activity in the early evening hours and it would interesting to compare it to different times of day. I think students would love this activity.  I would take my students on a nature walk along the trails by our school and stop at a certain point.  With the clipboard and paper they would have the choice to sketch pictures or write words to describe what they hear.  At the end of the activity I know they would enjoy sharing their sound map with their peers.  A fun extension of this activity would be to keep these sound maps and go back to the same location during different seasons and compare/contrast the similarities and differences between the sounds they heard.

As mentioned in the last module's discussion post I felt that "positioning youth as people who do science" is still the top priority for what I feel is most important for my first graders.  Even at a young age they have the power to answer those questions that ignite their curiosity through investigations and citizen science projects.   I want to teach my students to have the drive, the confidence, and the perseverance to take charge of their learning and to know that their discoveries can go beyond our school and community. I absolutely loved the idea of the "I Wonder" board that was discussed in lesson one of the text.  It reminds me of the "W" acronym in the KWL charts that we do in class...what do they want to learn?  What questions do they wonder about?  Through this "I Wonder" board students can pose questions at any time with sticky notes.  I think it's important to teach them about how to find answers to the questions that they are asking through referencing materials, exploring and analyzing data, observational studies, and experimental studies.  This is a great tool to utilize with any topic or focus and comes with many extension activities that can be explored as well.  I'm excited to try using one of these boards in the upcoming school year.

While each of the three teaching practices recommended by UC Davis are important I chose to focus on “positioning youth as people who do science.”  I teach 1st grade and some children in my class have lacked confidence, motivation, and perseverance when working on STEM and science experiments and investigations.  To begin the school year I think it’s important to teach children about what a scientist is, what they do, and how they help our world.  Through the use of literature, examples from our STEMscopes science curriculum, and by inviting scientists from the community into the classroom students would gain some valuable insight before our units or citizen science projects begin.   Through our science investigations and STEM activities students write or draw their ideas and findings and communicate with their classmates.  It tends to stop there when it doesn’t have to.  In the article, “Real Science in the Palm of Your Hand” it stated that we want children to be capable investigators alongside scientists.  We want them to understand and see that they are indeed scientist’s helpers!  Even though they are six or seven years old…they can still be a scientist!  Through citizen science projects my students would learn that the observations and investigations that they do at school and throughout the community are helping real scientists around the country.  These projects provide authentic learning opportunities for students and teaches them that the data they collect and the observations that they make will be shared with a scientist or organization outside of our school district.  I think that through incorporating citizen science into the classroom alongside our district’s curriculum, students will be more motivated to learn, gain confidence, work cooperatively with their classmates, and will understand that the work they are doing is being shared and used by a real scientist.  What a powerful thing for a young mind to experience!

I have never done a citizen-science project.  After reading through the material for this session I am very excited to try something like this with my class next year.  In all honesty I have never heard of any of these types of projects and the idea that my first graders can help scientists is fascinating to me!  We study birds a bit in our two science bundles "Animal Parts and Survival" and "Protecting the Young & Animal Trait Inheritance and Variation."  I would love to incorporate the citizen science project called The Great Backyard Bird Count.  This would be such an awesome experience for students and their families. From February 12th-15th this coming winter (2021) any participant is encouraged to tally the number and kinds of birds that they see during a 15 minute period of time.  You can observe for one of the designated days or all four of them.  February 12th falls on a Friday so this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce this citizen science project and explain how to participate.  Using the Seesaw family communication app,  I could send a video and link to the site to inform families about this awesome opportunity.  With Covid 19 and the uncertainty of what school will look like throughout the 2020-2021 year this is a project that students could do from home and that I would be able to explain through distance learning if needed.