Planning for Inquiry The Learning Cycle

What do I want the students to know and understand? Take a few minutes to observe the system to be studied. What might you want students to know and understand about this sytem?

The Nature of Science Natural History Observe Describe Identify Classify Wonder

The Nature of Science Experimental Science Observations Form questions about observations Propose reasonable answers to the question Test proposal Gather data Describe data Interpret data Analyze Results Question interpretation

Natural History and Experimentation are hand in glove- This is Inquiry  Observations lead to questions  Questions Lead to Experiments  Experiments lead to Interpretations  Interpretations lead to classification  Knowledge and understanding about the world grows  New understandings lead to new questions

Why use Inquiry? Students integrate new concepts into useful knowledge if they answer questions formed in their own minds Your task is to make them curious about what you want them to explore!!!

Expected Outcomes for Today Know how and when to use inquiry Be confident in teaching science Strengthen and diversify instructional strategies

Let us step back and look at the Learning Cycle Focus –What do students know about the topic? –What would they like to learn? Explore –Explore concept or phenomenon through a series of activities Reflect –Reinforce learning by allowing students to reflect on their findings *record thoughts in science notebook Apply –Apply new understanding to new situation

How do I organize lessons in instructional cycle? 5 E model can be useful –Engage – Arouse interest by connecting to prior knowledge –Exploration – Allow students to apply previous understanding to develop new concepts –Explanation – Organize explorations into new concept or skill (can be direct instruction) –Extension – Provide challenging opportunities for students to extend their understanding to new experiences –Evaluation – Students assess their understanding and abilities

Putting it together The Learning Cycle and Instructional Cycle fit together!!! The Three tenets of How People Learn fits in the middle!

What do you want students to know and understand? Look at the list you generated earlier Refine it down to one or two key concepts

How can we get our students to want to understand more about these concepts? How will we know when they are there?

What type of inquiry do you think will help you achieve your goals? Confirmation –investigations to confirm understandings – the outcome is known in advance Structured inquiry – Students investigate a teacher presented question Guided inquiry – Students investigate a teacher presented question through student designed procedures Open Inquiry – Students investigate topic related question that are student formulated and designed

Will Inquiry boards be a good tool? Will learning about variable in an experiment help the students reach the instructional goals? –Changed/Manipulated (independent) –Measured/Responding (dependent) –Controlled –Experimental Control (secondary students)

Student Brainstorm What can students manipulate in the system to uncover the concept we have selected? –Write one idea per Post It note –Place them on your paper What can students count or measure to determine if the systme responds to the manipulation? –Write one idea per Post It note –Place them on your paper Brainstorm (Changed/manipulated variables) Measured/responding variables The temp.

Choosing Variables I will change (one Changed/manipulated variable): I will measure/observe (one Measured/responding variable): I will keep the same (Controlled variables): (All the Color 1 Post-Its will go here) Choosing Variables 1.Students choose 1 of the changed/manipulated variable to test. This post it is moved to the “I will change” area of the Choosing Variables board 2.The rest of the post its are moved to the “I will keep the same” area of the Choosing Variables board 3.Students then choose 1 measured/observed variables and move this post it to the “I will measure/observe” area of the Choosing Variables board

Control Variables Why did we move all remaining manipulated variables to the ‘controlled’ location on the board? Why don’t we move the extra responding possibilities?

Ask a Question… How will changing one element of the system affect the entire system? Make sure the question is about the affect of the manipulated variable on the barnacle. Ask a Question What is the effect of the____ (manipulated/changed var) On the __________________ (responding/measured var.)

Predict (hypothesis) Predict how the system will respond when the one factor you selected is manipulated. What past experience or research informs this prediction? Prediction (Hypothesis) As the __________________ (manipulated/changed var.) Increases/decreases The ____________________ (responding/measured var.) Will increase/decrease/stay the same Because ________________

Now Design the Experiment What materials will be needed? Write down step by step directions. What is your experimental control? How will you replicate your data? Draw and label a diagram that shows what your experimental set-up and control set-up will look like.

Raw Data: Make a Table Make a table to show your results. Label with the experimental conditions Label with units of measure Temperature 5 C 12 C 15 C Time 1 Time 3Time 2 Sweeps per Minute Time 4

Create a Graph Now make a graph to visualize the information in the table. –Which axis shows the manipulated variable? –Which axis shows the responding variable? (Manipulated Variable) (Responding Variable) Temp. Degrees C Number of Sweeps

Conclusions: Did you Answer Your Question? How did the system respond to the manipulation of their environment? Support your thinking with values from your actual data. Conclusion When I increased/ decreased the__________ (manipulated/changed) The_______________ (responding/measured variable) _________________________ (describe what happened) I know this because_____

Are you sure of your results? What did you forget to think about when you set up your experiment? What else do you need to know to be sure your interpretation is correct?

What Next? What else do you want to learn about this system? What can you do to answer that question? This is a great place for guided or open ended inquiry Where are you now in the learning cycle?

Evaluation What were the key ideas that we wanted students to understand? How do they know they ‘got it’? How do we know they ‘got it’?

Additional Info The next six slides are other ways to describe and define ideas presented above.

The Learning Cycle (another version) Exploration Phase –Student Centered Students interact with materials and each other Concept Introduction Phase –Teacher Centered Teacher develops vocabulary and introduces pertinent information Concept Application Phase –Student Centered Allows students to apply fresh learning to new situations

Types of Instruction: Directed Instruction –Necessary to provide a framework for questions –Develops skills to use tools to be used to answer their questions –Example: Provide information about life cycle of slime mold Explain how to properly handle the microscope

Types of Instruction Closed-ended Explorations –Student explorations leads to the correct answer –Provide concrete experiences necessary for building understanding –Examples: Determine the weight to mass ratio necessary for an object to float What happens to the freezing temperature of water when you add salt?

Types of Instruction Guided Discovery –Provides parameters for exploration –Opportunity to check for misconceptions –Develops confidence for open ended explorations –Examples: Your barnacle experiment

Types of Instruction Problem Centered Discovery –Excellent form of alternative assessment –Develops life long skills and positive attitude toward science –Examples: Build a boat that will carry the maximum of weight

Types of Instruction Open-ended Explorations – True Inquiry –Student exploration leads to new questions –Students devise method to test their new questions –Examples: Does slime mold prefer the vanilla oatmeal because of the sugar content or because of the vanilla flavoring?