1. Pedagogical Approaches to Science Instruction ~Defining Inquiry~ Bay Area Science Oakland Unified School District POSIT ~ 2007

2. AGENDA Introduction Defining Inquiry through Practice
Rotating Stations
Debrief
The Inquiry Continuum & Subtle Shifts
Investigable Questions
Connecting Inquiry to Student Learning
Closing Questions

3. Pedagogical Approaches to Science Instruction

4. Exploration Explore 4 stations - rotate as a group.
Observe and interact with the materials or answer questions.
Think about what you would like to explore further (what you wonder) and write your questions on the index cards.

5. Exploration…

6. Debrief - Reflect and Write
What was your experience as a learner at each station? Did the sequence make a difference?
Which station represents the style in which you mostly teach?
Think about the array of students you have and how different students might respond to different approaches

7. Station Activities Structured Activity Guided Inquiry
Open-ended Exploration
Read and Answer

8. Defining Inquiry The Inquiry Continuum
Structured Inquiry, teacher provides learners with a hands-on problem to investigate, as well as procedures and materials, but does not inform them of expected outcomes.

9. Goals of Structured Inquiry
Introduce concepts, vocabulary, processes, skills, and investigation methods
Guide students toward specific discoveries
Provide a common base of experiences

10. Defining Inquiry The Inquiry Continuum
Guided Inquiry, teacher provides only the materials and problem to investigate. Learners devise their own procedure to solve the problem.

11. Goals of Guided Inquiry Challenge/application
Provide a sense of accomplishment
Challenge students’ conceptual understanding and skills by applying them to new situations
Develop deeper and broader understanding through real world applications

12. Defining Inquiry The Inquiry Continuum
Open Inquiry, learners formulate their own problem to investigate, as well as the procedure to solve the problem.
- Alan Colburn, An Inquiry Primer

13. Goals of Open Inquiry Generate questions
Encourage students to work together without direct teacher instruction
Develop and identify concepts, processes and skills, raise questions and problems

14. Goals of Read and Answer
Provide specific content information and vocabulary on a topic
Extend the information from an activity into descriptions of related experiences that are impractical in a classroom setting
Provide alternative explanations and make connections into other subject areas

15. The Inquiry Continuum Teacher Learner Teacher Learner Teacher Learner
Open Inquiry
Guided Inquiry
Structured Inquiry
Demo
Results
Procedure
Question
Teacher
Learner
Teacher
Learner
Teacher
Learner
- Douglas Llewellyn, Inquire Within

16. What is Inquiry?
What are the benefits of Inquiry centered science?

17. Defining Inquiry National Science Education Stds
Scientific Inquiry,
“…refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work.“

18. Defining Inquiry National Science Education Stds
Inquiry Learning
“…Inquiry also refers to the activities of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas…”

19. Defining Inquiry National Science Education Stds
Inquiry Learning,
… is an active learning process “something that students do, not something that is done to them.”
-- Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards

20. The Inquiry Cycle

21. The Inquiry Cycle

22. “non-investigable,” or
II.Testable Questions
Questions generated can be
“investigable,”
“non-investigable,” or
“not sure”

23. Questions -
Investigable - can be answered by something you can do in the lab or classroom

24. Questions
Non-Investigable - can not be answered by something you do firsthand in the lab or classroom.

25. Examples of Investigable and non-Investigable questions

26. Develop or re-write your questions into investigable questions

27. The Inquiry Cycle

28. How Does Inquiry Support Students Learning?

29. The Connection to Learning
Learners need to have opportunities to progress from concrete to abstract ideas.
Learners construct their own understanding by taking an active role in their learning.

30. The Connection to Learning
Learners construct understanding by connecting new information to what they already believe or know.
Students and teachers, as a learning community, share responsibility for learning and collaborate on constructing understanding.

31. Implications for Instruction
“Learning is something students do,
not something done to them”
-- NSE Standards, p.20

32. … to draw meaning out of experience…
Inquiry
… to draw meaning out of experience…

33. The End…

35. III.Experimental Design
Investigations can be carried out through:
“Systematic Observations” or
“Experiments”

36. Designing Investigations
Systematic Observations - setting up a situation according to a plan and then carefully observing it over time.

37. Designing Investigations
Experiment - comparison between two situations keeping all things the same except one.

38. Designing Investigations
Choose a question that you would be interested in investigating further
Form groups of 3 or 4.
Design an experiment or systematic observation to answer your question.

39. Designing Investigations
Things to be changed…
Things to stay the same…
Results to be looked at…
Plans to measure the outcome…
Materials needed…

40. Designing Investigations
Forming groups and designing investigations at the different grade levels
Return to Cycle

41. IV.Discoveries - Making Connections & Constructing Meaning
Make claims based on your evidence
Connect your research to the California Science Standards or to course concepts to be taught.
Return to Cycle

42. V.Dissemination - Constructing Meaning & Presenting Findings
Present your findings.
Connect your research to the California Science Standards or to course concepts to be taught.
Connect these concepts to real-world applications.
Return to Cycle