1. Introducing Inquiry to Your Students on a Shoestring Budget Shannon Bowen sbowen@wakefieldschool.org www.geocities.com/bowenclass

2.  Wakefield School, The Plains, VA  Classical Education  120 students in grades 9-12  Student profile  Science “Lab”

3. Different Facets of Inquiry….  Attain specific science skills (Process focused)  Development of the ability and disposition to investigate (Process with content)  Construction of knowledge through active learning (Content with process)  Presentation and explanation of ideas (Content)

4. How do I start?  Start with small steps! Don’t feel like you have to do everything at once  Examine your current labs, see where you can insert inquiry  Be organic in your approach  Be patient with your students - and yourself!

5. Inquiry Analysis Questions  Do questions guide the lab?  Do students generate, refine, and focus questions for investigation?  Do students have opportunities to decide what data to collect and how?  Do students generate explanations from evidence?  Are students asked to revise their explanations in light of evidence?

6. Easy (and Inexpensive) Ways to Start Introducing Inquiry Today!

7. Design a Slow Flyer  Question:  How can you design a paper airplane that flies slowly for the farthest distance?  Materials Needed:  Paper, tape, staples, paper clips, timers, meter sticks  Time requirement: 70-80 minutes

8. % of Filling in an Oreo  Teacher posed question:  What is the percent (by mass) of filling in an Oreo Cookie?  Student generated questions:  Too many to list!!  Materials Needed:  At least four types of crème filled cookies  balance

9. % of Water in Popcorn  Teacher posed question:  Which sample of popcorn is the “best”?  Materials Needed:  Three samples of popcorn (20 kernels each sample per group), hot plates, scales, foil, oil  Student generated questions & procedures:  What is “best”?  How will we test the samples?

10. % of Water in Popcorn  Interdisciplinary opportunities:  Business letter/report  Writing an abstract  Time Requirement: At least two full block periods!

11. Conservation of Mass  Start with a “bad” test design  Have students use an open beaker set up to try and ‘verify’ the law of conservation mass  Teacher posed question:  What went wrong here!?  Student generated explanations  Students “redesign” the test

12. Conservation of Mass  Materials Needed:  Baking soda, vinegar, beakers, sandwich baggies, other odds and ends you have in your classroom (foil, thumbtacks, paperclips, twist ties, etc.)  Time Requirement:  45-50 minutes

13. 3-D Periodic Tables  Teacher posed question:  Not so much a question, but a challenge!  Using ONLY the materials in your kit, design a 3-D periodic table that demonstrates one of the periodic trends  Materials Needed:  Cardboard rectangles, glue, copies of the periodic table (s and p block only, first 4 or 5 periods), Smarties candies (12-15 rolls per group)

14. Penny Boats  Teacher posed challenge:  Identify the independent and dependent variables, graph class results  Using only the materials in your packet, fashion a boat that will hold as many pennies possible before sinking  Materials Needed:  8cm 2 foil sheet, bag of pennies, tub or bucket to float the boats in  Time Requirement: 45 minutes

15. Rate of Dissolution  Teacher posed questions:  How can you test factors that effect the rate dissolution? (Temperature, surface area, and agitation)  Materials Needed:  Granulated sugar, sugar cubes, water, timers, hot and cold water, stirring rods  Time Requirement:  As little as 1 hour, as much as 3 hours!

16. Copies of Labs and Rubrics: Shannon Bowen sbowen@wakefieldschool.org