Strategies
Using Inquiry
Our school's curriculum is based in inquiry based design (IBD). In IBD students often design and direct their own tasks. Students make observations, develop hypotheses about phenomena, and devise tests to investigate their hypotheses. They share responsibility within the group and with the facilitator for answering questions, and use a scientific approach to solving problems. Research indicates that students being taught in effective inquiry-based learning environments improve skills and exhibit more positive attitudes toward science. Improved skills, laboratory procedures, graphing interpreting data, oral communication, and evidence of critical thinking are all benefits of using an inquiry based design model.
The physical behaviors of scientists are demonstrated in IBD. Students simply learn more than science concepts and skills. They learn problem solving and question answering in a non-formulaic method. The inquiry process involves the following steps: observe a process or event, formulate questions based on observations, develop a workable hypothesis, devise a strategy for testing it, analyze and draw conclusions from collected data, and finally communicate findings to others.
Inquiry-based instruction requires a unique approach. As with all classroom activities, however, the use of sound instructional techniques is critical to maximizing student learning. It is not only appropriate but necessary to teach the process before beginning an IBD activity. Students must become aware of each phase of the process. Teach students how to focus on these elements purposefully, conduct guided and independent practice with each element individually.
Collaboration is an additional skill to model and set expectations before IBD can be successful. Help students learn to collaborate to solve problems. Working with and learning from others are integral parts of the scientific process. Students must work effectively with a group for inquiry-based instruction to be a success. Make your expectations for group work clear, and provide ongoing feedback based on your observations of student interactions.
In IBD all beginning of the year activities are a very Structured Inquiry. Here students follow precise teacher instructions to complete a hands-on activity. Partially through the year students begin Guided Inquiry in which they own parts of the procedures. Then students develop the procedure to investigate a teacher-selected question. Finally through Student-Initiated Inquiry, students generate questions about a teacher-selected topic and design their own investigations. Early in the year most activities are 90 percent structured inquiry, but midway through the year structured inquiry should be limited to no more than ten percent of activity time. Students should be the facilitators of their own learning and own designs.
As always monitor your responses. Most students are familiar with traditional instructional models; they are accustomed to asking a question and being told an answer. IBD instruction requires a different approach. Supply what students need to move forward with the investigative process, but don't ruin the ending. Science instruction should reflect the way that science is practiced in the real world.
Gaming
Children learn best when what they are learning is able to be connected to their past learning and is relevant to their daily lives. It also doesn't hurt if they consider the activity fun! Engaging students in relevant materials that connect to their prior knowledge isn't an easy job, but it makes learning material solidify when done correctly. Most adults can still recite songs and games they learned as children. Gaming isn't just for the preschool classroom; it can make concrete connections for students of all ages. Games in the classroom also increase student efficacy. Students are motivated to participate successfully. Games can also increase the level of rigor as they are usually easily scaffolded for higher and lower learners. Finally, games in the classroom improve student to student relationships as most games are collaborative. Teacher to student relationships are also affected in that learners can see the teacher in an engaging environment that promotes learning with fun.
Reading in the Science Content Area
Science and reading and writing are natural partners for today's elementary classroom. Reading instruction is easily taught through science texts and vice versa. The writing about scientific observations is also a process easily transferable to expository writing and vice versa. There is also a fine array of children's literature available today that teachers can use to introduce their students to the world in which they live and to teach reading skills in a meaningful context. This meaningfulness and real-world approach has been shown to significantly enhance students' comprehension of what they read 30. To increase their self-esteem and sense of self-worth, all students need to see themselves reflected in what they read and study in school. The wide variety of high quality literature available today helps to accommodate this need; careful selection of what is to be read helps to assure that students can relate to what they are reading and, therefore, make it meaningful to their own reality.
Additionally more and more content is being packed into the school day. Teachers are expected to integrate safety, creative movement, social emotional needs, drug abuse prevention, and conflict resolution into elementary curriculum. To address this compacted day, it is necessary to teach more in the same amount of time. The only effective method to achieving this is to implement an integrated curriculum where more than one subject is taught at the same time. This enactment makes content areas more applicable because they are connected to one another, and more can be taught in a given period of time than if subjects are taught separately. If two subjects are taught at the same time, not only can more be taught in a given period of time, but instruction in one area reinforces and enhances learning in the other. This is especially important in reading, because reading involves many skills; but these skills need a meaningful context, they need to be applied to a content area and science instruction is an easy fit.
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