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The Virtual Vee Map: A Template for Internet Inquiry. Margaret A. Coffman Department of Biology Eastern Michigan University. Process Skills used in Inquiry. BIOL 303. Life Science for Elementary Teachers Pre-service elementary teachers Required course Approximately 250 students/semester
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The Virtual Vee Map:A Template for Internet Inquiry Margaret A. Coffman Department of Biology Eastern Michigan University
BIOL 303 • Life Science for Elementary Teachers • Pre-service elementary teachers • Required course • Approximately 250 students/semester • Hybrid course • 3 hours/week in lab • 2 hours/week on WebCT
BIOL 303 Student Skills • Most students can… • Generate question and hypothesis • Design a sound experiment • Collect reasonable data • Most students cannot… • Summarize data in a table or graph • Analyze and evaluate their results
Objectives • Internet Inquiry • Strengthen student inquiry skills at the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels. • Introduce students to internet resources • BIOL 303 • Increase confidence in using technology and online resources • Successfully implement inquiry projects in their own elementary classrooms
Gowin’s Vee Map • Vee diagram or Vee heuristic • an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student • Student-directed; constructivist; inquiry-based • Successful in face-to-face settings • Lab report • Deciphering primary literature • Evaluation tool for performance assessments • Roehrig, Luft, and Edwards (2001) • Versatile Vee Maps
Virtual Vee Map RubricConceptual; Knowing; Left • Inquiry Question • What do I want to find out? What do I need to know? • Word List • What do I know? What words should I use to search for more information? • Graphic Organizer • How are these ideas connected? • Hypothesis • What statement do you think the data from your chosen website will support?
Virtual Vee Map Rubricconnecting concepts & methods • Websites • Where did I find information to support my hypothesis and answer my question(s)? • Website veracity?
Virtual Vee Map RubricMethodological; Doing; Right • Data and Analysis • What did I find out? • Summarize and present in table or graph • Conclusion • What did I learn? What do my results mean? How does my inquiry relate to a larger context or in the real world?
Conclusion should exhibit thinking at the analysis and evaluation levels. • Restate your hypothesis. Was your hypothesis supported or refuted? • Summarize important data or results. • Suggest implications of your findings. What do your results mean on a larger scale? • State an additional unanswered question worthy of further investigation. • Present limitations/errors to your inquiry.
Student Conclusion Example • Conclusion: A gene’s dominance will have a more direct effect than recessive genes on the traits of students in Ohio and Washington. According to the data in comparing the frequency of dominant versus recessive traits on the students in Ohio and Washington, my hypothesis was refuted.By comparing the percentages of students who had a certain trait in each state, it was concluded that dominant traits were not the most frequently expressed phenotype. Interestingly, both schools had a majority of the students with the same traits regardless of whether the most frequent phenotype resulted from a recessive trait or a dominant trait. The results of the comparison show that both schools expressed the dominant traits for earlobes, pinky fingers, and colorblindness in higher frequency than the recessive traits. The rest of the phenotypes: white forelocks, dimples, thumb shape and mid digit hair favored the recessive phenotypes. Because the results of these schools were so similar, it may be safe to hypothesize that similar traits may be expressed amongst all populations in America, but dominant traits may not be the more frequently expressed phenotype. It would be interesting to compare different communities across America to see if this hypothesis is true. On a larger scale it would be interesting to compare the results of an American community to the results of communities in other countries. Limitations to my inquiry were not knowing the ethnicities and the amount of students in the study. Each school only had approximately 20 students participating, which may have skewed the results of the test.
Highlights the Nature of Science Knowledge, Comprehension, Application Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation questions conclusion word list graphic organizer original hypothesis modified data INTERNET (Web-Based Inquiry Sites)