Hands-On Learning in Science & Mathematics Dr. Patricia Emmons Dr. Nicole Glen BSU Elementary & Early Childhood Education Educator’s Professional Day October 3, 2011

Problems to Solve Use the materials and directions at your table to come up with a solution to your problem. Please ask questions if you are unsure about anything the directions state, or if you are unsure how to use the materials.

Skills of Inquiry, Experimentation, & Design ask questions and make predictions that can be tested select and use appropriate tools/technology conduct multiple trials and keep accurate records compare results to predictions recognize patterns in data and create reasonable explanations record data and communicate findings via graphs, charts, maps, models, and oral/written reports

Inquiry Questions  also called Guiding Question or Focus Question  should be explorable, investigable, testable  begins with “how” or “what” (or “which” or “where”)  these types of questions test the cause or function in nature  “why” questions are hard to test because typically about how something originated, which can sometimes be inferred from causal/functional questions  these questions are researchable, not testable/explorable  “do/does/is/are/can” questions have a yes or no answer; these require you to have to ask follow up questions and don’t require students to think as deeply

Inquiry Question Starters  How can/does…?  How many/long/often…?  How are ___ and ___ the same/different?  How does ___ affect ___?  What would happen if…?  What does…?  What happens to ___ if we change ___?  Which ___ is/has…?  Where is/was…?

With only two wires touching the battery, create a circuit such that when one lighted bulb is unscrewed from its socket and goes out, the other bulb goes out as well. Make a drawing of your arrangement. ONE GOES OUT THEY ALL GO OUT How can you make a circuit so that when one light bulb is unscrewed (and goes out) the other light bulb goes out?

With only two wires touching the battery, create a circuit such that when one lighted bulb is unscrewed from its socket and goes out, the other bulb stays lighted. Make a drawing of your arrangement. ONE GOES OUT THE OTHERS STAY LIT

Make a foil boat that floats as high up on the water as you can get it. Make another foil boat that floats as low in the water as you can get (without touching it on the bottom!). Do not allow the foil to touch the sides of the container. FOIL BOATS

Create a pendulum that makes exactly 10 round trips in 15 seconds. A round trip occurs when the weight at the end of the pendulum goes from one side to the other side and all the way back to beginning side. Describe your pendulum so carefully that someone could follow your description and make a pendulum that makes 10 round trips in 15 seconds. PENDULUM PROBLEM

Given the materials, invent different ways of measuring the strength of a magnet. Determine which method is the most reliable (gives nearly the same measurement each time). Provide evidence to support the most reliable method. MAGNET STRENGTH

After working in an obscure rainforest in Africa, scientists discovered many new creatures. Their pictures are here in front of you. They need your help coming up with a system to organize the monsters so that they can quickly and easily find the picture of a particular monster when they need to. CRAZY MONSTERS

When we see the moon from Earth we know that it sometimes looks like this, or this, or we can’t see it at all! Use the ball and flashlight to show what is happening so that we see the moon in these different ways. Remember not to block the light! WHAT IS THE MOON LIKE?