Kelley
Forum Replies Created
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KelleyParticipantMy middle school students have currently just begun a project building and designing their own paper rollercoaster built out of template pieces. I believe this is inquiry level 3, guided inquiry, because I provided them with the question...how can you build the "best" rollercoaster? My goal for using this question is to reinforce to my young scientists that they need to quantify what "best" means by using characteristics that can be measured. They need to come up with three parameters for what "best" means, setting three goals that their roller coaster will accomplish, such as speed, design, or size. I think I could have framed the question a bit differently to move this project up to level 4/open inquiry by restating the question..."We are going to build rollercoasters. What do you want yours to accomplish?" so that students come up with the question on their own. I would love to hear other ideas of how to increase the inquiry in this project for my students.in reply to: Inquiry in Your Classroom #802389
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KelleyParticipantI appreciate that you recognize students' natural curiosity and recognize inquiry as a way to guide that. We have just finished a science fair unit with 6th grade, and I saw such deeper passion for their subject when students thought of their own ideas based on something they were passionate about, such as growing broccoli sprouts that one student loves to eat, or projects involving eggs from the chickens and ducks that they raise, than the students who looked up an experiment on the internet and just tried to replicate it. While I think some teachers talk about "instilling" that curiosity in more students, how can we uncover the natural curiosity and passion that are already there?in reply to: Intro to Inquiry #802386
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KelleyParticipantThe reading definitely expanded my view of inquiry, as you can see in the concept map. When I brainstormed what inquiry was, I thought of it as wondering, investigating something one is curious about, and looking very deeply into a question. I added to my definition that inquiry is open-ended and individualized. It is student-centered, and the teacher's role is to ask many questions without directing the investigation in attempt to get specific results. Inquiry learning allows and requires students to take risks and to closely observe the outcome. Unlike an in-class activity or an assigned lab with an expected or desired outcome, inquiry based learning prompts students to predict their own outcomes and design their own plans. Inquiry is problem solving, allows for multiple results, and requires many creative and critical thinking skills. Inquiry-based learning can be chaotic, which may turn some teachers away from it. Inquiry learning is not memorization, teacher-centered instruction, or structured activities.in reply to: Intro to Inquiry #802385