What Does Inquiry Mean?
What Does Inquiry Mean?
Raising the question, "What does inquiry mean?", seems to me to be the best place to start in exploring the idea of teaching an inquiry lesson. So, let us take a minute to answer that question. In chapter one of our textbook Teaching Children Science, by Donald A. Derosa and Joseph Abruscato, one can find "scientific inquiry requires careful, active observations of the details and connections of systems and events that we encounter, which often go unnoticed by casual observers" (p. 5). So, what does this mean? Well, it means that to be a scientist, you cannot simply just take in the world as it is, you need to look closer and simply try to uncover all that is possible. Then, once you have observed the world around you, how can you expand your knowledge? Though inquiry of course! After observing the world, it is almost impossible to not form a question or two. So, posing a question is the first step in the inquiry process. After a question has been developed, a hypothesis needs to be formulated. What is a hypothesis? It is a statement that is based on the observations made that proposes a possible conclusion to the question asked and is stated in an "if...then..." fashion. After developing a hypothesis, it is time to test it with an experiment. As our book says, it may be hard for students to design an experiment on their own, especially the first time they are asked to do so. As teachers, we then should teach the students how to narrow their subject of experimentation. The first step I see in this process is to teach the student about the different parts of an experiment or the variables. As our group taught in class, the three types of variable include the independent variable, the dependent variable, and the controlled variables. Since it may be confusing to students to know the difference between each type of variable, as several people brought up during our presentation, I have been thinking of ways that I could help my students remember. I find that when I want to remember each type I look to the names of each for help. For example, when I want to remember what a dependent variable is, I listen to the word "dependent" and hear the word "depend." That then triggers my memory and lets me know that the dependent variable depends on the experiment, so this must be the variable that you are measuring, like how tall or short a plant will grow. The independent variable is the one that is being changed in the experiment. I think of the independent variable as the one that stands out, like an independent person, and is the one variable that is going to be changed in the experiment. Finally, the controlled variables are the variables that remain the same in each test of the experiment. I find that paying attention to how the word control sounds like constant helps me to remember the name of those variables.
After discussing the different types of variables and the students have designed an experiment, it is time to start collecting the data. As it was important to teach the students how to create an experiment, the students also need to be taught how to collect data and interpret it. To teach the students how to collect their data in a neatly organized fashion, I believe that graphic organizers and Excel are definitely the places to start. Once they have collected the data, as our book says it is important to teach the students to look for a trend. Over the weekend, I attended Project Wild and we played a game that would be perfect for teaching the students how to collect and analyze data.
The game we played during Project Wild was called "Oh Deer." During this game, about six people started off as deer and they had to skip over to the rest of the players who represented resources. Each deer and resource had to present a sign to the rest of the group to indicate whether they were looking for or represented food, water, or shelter. When the deer partnered with the resources, the resources became deer in the next round, showing the deer survived and were able to reproduce. Each round of the game simulated a year and each year a different element was added to either decrease the number of deer or increase it. After each round, the woman running the workshop recorded the number of deer to survive on a line graph. When we finished ten rounds, she went over what our data meant for the deer population year to year and for the sustainability overall. I believe this activity could be very easily integrated into a lesson on inquiry. To do so, I would ask the students to think about the potential factors that may cause a deer population to decrease and guide them towards formulating hypotheses on what would cause the biggest decrease. Then, I would have the students test their hypotheses through playing the game and simulating the potential threats. Then much like the woman did for us on Saturday, I would guide the students through analyzing the data. During the entire activity, I would be sure to emphasize each step in the process of inquiry.
Using inquiry is also important in helping students develop true knowledge as opposed to the misconceptions that they may have. Children can have misconceptions about just about anything. They can believe that dinosaurs used to be people's pets or that aliens live on the moon. Children usually get misconceptions from television or stories they have heard. In the article "Why Scientists Do Science: A Trek For Answers," by Jennifer DeMichele, another misconception is brought to the surface. This misconception is that all scientists work in a lab and wear a white lab coat. Though exploration and visiting different scientists, Jennifer discovered that some scientist works out in nature studying the environment and some work in a classroom teaching students, it all depends on the type of science they are working with. She also learned that not all scientists work with chemicals. She met a scientist that work four different fields who were inspired by their love of gardening, nature, and problem-solving. As a science teacher, it is important to inspire your children to use their interests to fuel a passion for discovery. It is important to build off ob both prior knowledge and misconceptions to ensure that the students feel connected to what they are learning and are kept engaged throughout the lesson.
Raising the question, "What does inquiry mean?", seems to me to be the best place to start in exploring the idea of teaching an inquiry lesson. So, let us take a minute to answer that question. In chapter one of our textbook Teaching Children Science, by Donald A. Derosa and Joseph Abruscato, one can find "scientific inquiry requires careful, active observations of the details and connections of systems and events that we encounter, which often go unnoticed by casual observers" (p. 5). So, what does this mean? Well, it means that to be a scientist, you cannot simply just take in the world as it is, you need to look closer and simply try to uncover all that is possible. Then, once you have observed the world around you, how can you expand your knowledge? Though inquiry of course! After observing the world, it is almost impossible to not form a question or two. So, posing a question is the first step in the inquiry process. After a question has been developed, a hypothesis needs to be formulated. What is a hypothesis? It is a statement that is based on the observations made that proposes a possible conclusion to the question asked and is stated in an "if...then..." fashion. After developing a hypothesis, it is time to test it with an experiment. As our book says, it may be hard for students to design an experiment on their own, especially the first time they are asked to do so. As teachers, we then should teach the students how to narrow their subject of experimentation. The first step I see in this process is to teach the student about the different parts of an experiment or the variables. As our group taught in class, the three types of variable include the independent variable, the dependent variable, and the controlled variables. Since it may be confusing to students to know the difference between each type of variable, as several people brought up during our presentation, I have been thinking of ways that I could help my students remember. I find that when I want to remember each type I look to the names of each for help. For example, when I want to remember what a dependent variable is, I listen to the word "dependent" and hear the word "depend." That then triggers my memory and lets me know that the dependent variable depends on the experiment, so this must be the variable that you are measuring, like how tall or short a plant will grow. The independent variable is the one that is being changed in the experiment. I think of the independent variable as the one that stands out, like an independent person, and is the one variable that is going to be changed in the experiment. Finally, the controlled variables are the variables that remain the same in each test of the experiment. I find that paying attention to how the word control sounds like constant helps me to remember the name of those variables. The game we played during Project Wild was called "Oh Deer." During this game, about six people started off as deer and they had to skip over to the rest of the players who represented resources. Each deer and resource had to present a sign to the rest of the group to indicate whether they were looking for or represented food, water, or shelter. When the deer partnered with the resources, the resources became deer in the next round, showing the deer survived and were able to reproduce. Each round of the game simulated a year and each year a different element was added to either decrease the number of deer or increase it. After each round, the woman running the workshop recorded the number of deer to survive on a line graph. When we finished ten rounds, she went over what our data meant for the deer population year to year and for the sustainability overall. I believe this activity could be very easily integrated into a lesson on inquiry. To do so, I would ask the students to think about the potential factors that may cause a deer population to decrease and guide them towards formulating hypotheses on what would cause the biggest decrease. Then, I would have the students test their hypotheses through playing the game and simulating the potential threats. Then much like the woman did for us on Saturday, I would guide the students through analyzing the data. During the entire activity, I would be sure to emphasize each step in the process of inquiry. Using inquiry is also important in helping students develop true knowledge as opposed to the misconceptions that they may have. Children can have misconceptions about just about anything. They can believe that dinosaurs used to be people's pets or that aliens live on the moon. Children usually get misconceptions from television or stories they have heard. In the article "Why Scientists Do Science: A Trek For Answers," by Jennifer DeMichele, another misconception is brought to the surface. This misconception is that all scientists work in a lab and wear a white lab coat. Though exploration and visiting different scientists, Jennifer discovered that some scientist works out in nature studying the environment and some work in a classroom teaching students, it all depends on the type of science they are working with. She also learned that not all scientists work with chemicals. She met a scientist that work four different fields who were inspired by their love of gardening, nature, and problem-solving. As a science teacher, it is important to inspire your children to use their interests to fuel a passion for discovery. It is important to build off ob both prior knowledge and misconceptions to ensure that the students feel connected to what they are learning and are kept engaged throughout the lesson.
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