Kandis

I liked how you would involve students in creating the rubric.  This would give them input and a true understanding of what the teacher is looking to asses.

When I am asked into a classroom or an afterschool program I have limited time with youth.  One program that I teach is called Bloxels, it is a video game designing program that uses pixel blocks for youth to create characters, background, layouts and animations.  They can choose their video game topic, sometimes it is a book they have read or something they learned in school or a topic of their passion.  After they pick the topic, sometimes they need to research it more to make sure that their games showcase their topic accurately.  In one instance I was able to bring the kids on a field trip to talk to game designers, they learned that all types of majors are important to game designing and the importance of being accurate so they can sell their games.  And then youth have to play each other's games and give feedback. I feel like this is the closest I come to teaching an inquiry based program but feel it is more structured or guided inquiry depending on the support the student needs.

I believe that students are great at asking questions that they want a simple answer to.  When out in the field with youth I tend to throw questions back at them or ask how can you find that out instead of giving them the answer and then throwing in "why do you think that you say that animal or plant in this habitat."   Most of the time in the classroom prior to field work, is giving youth tools they can use while outside, youth are encouraged to bring their notebooks with them to write down questions they have, take samples of species that they find interesting and want to know more about to encourage further investigation. I mentioned in one of my earlier post, that I always have the last meeting day as the field day at a local preserve, I think it would be interesting to reverse the outline of the program and have youth go outside first and then spend the next 4 weeks (4 hours) investigating things they saw or want to know more about.

Merlin Bird ID- By Cornell Lab of Ornithology can help with identification.  I have not used in a while but you answer 5 short easy questions about what you saw and Merlin will offer suggestions on identification including detailed pictures, sounds and range maps. This might be helpful and a good way for kids to choose birds they do not know instead of skipping over them. Kandis

One of the after-school programs that I offer is for 5 and 6 grade students.  The program is broken up into 4 in-school sessions and 1 day in the field.  The 4 sessions are teaching youth how to use a plant identification book, looking at animal skins, scats and prints, identifying parts of a flower by dissecting it and identifying trees during different times of the year.   The field day is spent at a local nature preserve called the Dwass Kill and Usher’s Road State Forest, we invite local scientists to help students along the way and talk about their research.  Students can observe the hemlock forests and how that is different to the Deciduous Forest, find signs of animals being present in the forest, find new plants to identify and much more.  Students start a notebook in school that they carry with them, along with a pencil and hand lens on the field trip. I would agree that getting the youth outside is where the real questions begin to form and concepts that they have learned in school start to make more sense.  Kids work together to identify what they are seeing and hearing, they begin asking real scientist thoughtful questions about their findings.  They make drawings, take leaf imprints, and write questions down to look into when they return to school. I wonder what this program would look like reversed, the field trip first and then giving youth 4 weeks to do research on what they found interesting and had more questions about.

Sound maps are a great tool to use with kids and adults alike.  Not only does it help with observation skills but we all need to take a moment to take the time to focus on what we have and what is around us, instead on focusing on where we are going or what we need to do next.  Emotional Health and mindfulness are an ever-growing topics.  If we can get youth to slow down, gain a better sense of the world around them and pay attention to small details; and maybe ask them how they feel at that moment we will be teaching youth life skills they need to be successful.  Does taking a break to be present help you feel calmer, relaxed?  Sound maps are also a great way to get youth to observe and just be present in their surroundings.  A jump for a more in-depth conversation later with youth making predictions, asking questions and following with open inquiry learning opportunities. I also like the idea of “sit-spots.” A sit spot is an outdoor place that you spend at least 5 minutes while observing everything around you. When you choose a sit spot you want it to be easy to visit, free of distractions, comfortable and close to things that you want to observe. Encourage youth to use their senses to observe and write in a journal about their observations to make inferences on changes they see overtime. Look for movement. What animals do you see, what are they doing? What did you hear in your sit spot? Do animals notice you?  Do they get more comfortable with your presence? What can you touch around you? Are certain plants softer when they are young? Do the mosses, rocks, trees and plants feel different when they are wet or dry? Does the sun feel good on your neck today? Can you smell anything? If so, can you find it?  Can you identify it? Using a sit spot gently encourages us to be mindful of our surrounds and to appreciate ALL of the things that are happening around us. They help us to pause in our daily routine and to make sense of our natural surroundings while relying only on our own senses. Sit spots encourage critical thinking, independence and self-reliance while also getting us outside! Week 2 Sound maps are a great tool to use with kids and adults alike.  Not only does it help with observation skills but we all need to take a moment to take the time to focus on what we have and what is around us, instead on focusing on where we are going or what we need to do next.  Emotional Health and mindfulness are an ever-growing topics.  If we can get youth to slow down, gain a better sense of the world around them and pay attention to small details; and maybe ask them how they feel at that moment we will be teaching youth life skills they need to be successful.  Does taking a break to be present help you feel calmer, relaxed?  Sound maps are also a great way to get youth to observe and just be present in their surroundings.  A jump for a more in-depth conversation later with youth making predictions, asking questions and following with open inquiry learning opportunities. I also like the idea of “sit-spots.” A sit spot is an outdoor place that you spend at least 5 minutes while observing everything around you. When you choose a sit spot you want it to be easy to visit, free of distractions, comfortable and close to things that you want to observe. Encourage youth to use their senses to observe and write in a journal about their observations to make inferences on changes they see overtime. Look for movement. What animals do you see, what are they doing? What did you hear in your sit spot? Do animals notice you?  Do they get more comfortable with your presence? What can you touch around you? Are certain plants softer when they are young? Do the mosses, rocks, trees and plants feel different when they are wet or dry? Does the sun feel good on your neck today? Can you smell anything? If so, can you find it?  Can you identify it? Using a sit spot gently encourages us to be mindful of our surrounds and to appreciate ALL of the things that are happening around us. They help us to pause in our daily routine and to make sense of our natural surroundings while relying only on our own senses. Sit spots encourage critical thinking, independence and self-reliance while also getting us outside!

Thanks for the suggestion, we always want to do so much but as you pointed out we need to know our ecosystem and the correct timing to do science to make it meaningful!

The three teaching practices that UC Davis recommends are a great framework to teaching citizen science.  Positioning Youth as people who do Science as the first suggestion needs to be taught at an early age, youth need to see themselves as able to do science, make personal connections to science, find the interconnectedness of the community in which they live.  Getting youth engaged in science at a young age will allow them to see that they can in fact do science, and it is fun.  “Think Globally and Act Locally,” a quote one of my colleagues uses frequently.  Framing the Work Globally and Locally, stepping up the open-ended critical questions with how this data they are collecting can be used, why is it important, how can they make a difference locally that will play a larger role.  This gives youth an understanding on how they can make a difference, doing science for the larger good.  Allowing them to take responsibility for their community, creating understandings on how things work together to create the beautiful world in which we live. Finally, Attend to the Unexpected, as the last recommendation to teaching science allows youth to take on more of an inquiry based approach to learning.  Giving students time to ask questions and research why something may have happened during their research.  This allows youth to take charge of their learning, finding out things that matter to them, making more of a personal connection. The three teaching practices show the stepping stones to inquiry-based learning using three steps instead of four as mentioned in The Many Levels of Inquiry, by Heather Banchi and Randy Bell.   I see, Positioning Youth as People who do Science as aligning with the confirmation and structured inquiry levels mentioned by Banchi and Bell, where youth are given the question, procedure and possibly the conclusion.  Work Globally and Locally as a guided inquiry approach where youth are allowed time to think about how their findings effect the world in which we live.  Finally, Attend to the Unexpected as open inquiry allowing students to ask questions and have time to research their “I wonder statements.”

As a 4-H educator, time is my worse enemy.  I am usually invited into a classroom or after school program for an hour, sometimes it is reoccurring; so often I use confirmation, structured and rarely guided inquiry in my lessons.  Most of my time is spent with elementary aged youth.  A popular series of activities that I would usually be teaching at summer camps is “Things that Fly,” over six lessons we talk about lift, drag, roll, symmetry, trajectory, gravity and much more by making paper airplanes, Alka-Seltzer rockets, water rockets and observing how they fly.  I believe the lessons are taught in a structured inquiry format, the youth are given the materials, we look at pictures of real model airplanes and rockets, youth are asked what makes these things fly.  Then youth make their own models and test them, as a group we observe them in flight, collect data by taking measurements, and then they can redesign if needed or at least talk about what they would do different if they had more time and draw conclusions.    Each part of the series is usually two, one-hour sessions, session one looking at the true model, and designing their own and the second week they test and redesign and make conclusions. Do this as a series of activities at a guided inquiry level I could pose the question, “Why do things fly?   Create a model airplane (or rocket) that can fly, incorporating concepts you find out about planes.” This would require access to computers so youth could research airplanes, a place for youth to consistently test.  Youth would be given a time frame, with a group testing at week 5 giving youth week 6 to redesign, draw conclusions and discuss concepts related to flight.