What is Inquiry? Lecture 2

Pair and Share “Mom, you know how the Myth busters say not to try things at home….” My son decided to see if tin foil was conductive enough to short out an outlet. He got himself foil, rolled it up, made a bridge out of it, and stuck it in the outlet. After getting up off the floor, he noticed the burn marks on the wall and came upstairs to talk about what happened. IS THIS INQUIRY? WHY or WHY NOT? 5 min

What is Inquiry? Inquiry is the process of analyzing data to answer a question. Two parts: Asking of a research question Seeking the answer to the question by analyzing data

Science Instruction Models Science Instruction True Inquiry Experimental Studies Observational Studies Activities and Demos

Is All Inquiry Equal? Pair and compare and evaluate these 3 instances of “inquiry” learning.  Students are required to complete an independent project for their AP biology class. Project needs to be experimental in design and have a research written up in a ten page paper. All data must be included in paper for analysis.  Students need to collect twenty samples of leaves from their local area. After collection students need to classify and describe each leaf in a portfolio project. Classifications need to discuss the properties of each leaf that lead to it’s proper identification.  In an electricity unit students are given a box of objects (plastic spoon, copper wire, steel bolt, a house key, and an empty water bottle). Using a broken circuit, students must attempt to complete the circuit and determine which objects are the best conductors.

Types of Inquiry Full Inquiry- completely student generated and driven. Questions come from the students. Process for answering the question comes from the student. Open Ended Inquiry- question comes from teacher or is curricularly driven. Methods and design process come from students. Rigid or Closed Inquiry- Not true inquiry. Question comes from lessons or teacher. Methods and experiments come from teacher or lesson. Cook Book Labs!!

Should Students Do Inquiry? PROS Engaging Motivation Improves With higher motivation learning can improve w deeper connections Varied Self taught Model Differences Collaborative Opportunities CONS Content Varies True inquiry questions are varied bc of student thought Time Constraints It is a time sink Variable Learning Outcomes Not always effective for meeting specific goals

Clark Et Al- What would those crazy cats say? So what do we know about cognition based on Clark’s piece? What are the implications for teaching inquiry? Procedural VS Conceptual Knowledge- which are we using inquiry to teach?

Example: The Hodge Conjecture Let: We call this the group of Hodge classes of degree 2k on X. Let X be a non-singular complex projective manifold. Then every Hodge class on X is a linear combination with rational coefficients of the cohomology classes of complex subvarieties of X. If you create a new viable proof for the Hodge Conjecture I will give you an A in every course you take from me and $1,000.

Lead In Discussion This week we discussed Inquiry and DI Why DI very important- cognition and learning outcomes- working memory 4+-3 Open ended learning- is it inquiry? Next week we discuss Misconceptions and Private conceptions