Inquiry in Science

1. Inquiry in Science

2. "In the science classroom, wondering should be as highly valuedas knowing," F. James Rutherford and Andrew Ahlgren in “Science for All Americans”

3. Scientific Inquiry • Addresses the California State Standard for: Developing Explanations Based on Evidence

4. The Big Picture • Inquiry is the common thread in a student-centered classroom: Used in • Cornell notes • Tutorials • Socratic Seminars • Philosophical Chairs • Learning Logs • Critical thinking & decision-making

5. The Big Picture • Often begins with a question • Encourages students to thinkcritically • Creates the opportunity for students to problem-solve & share analyses • Inquiry promotes COLLABORATION

7. Why Use Inquiry as a Teaching Methodology? • Inquiry immediately • engages students with their own thinking processes.

8. Why Use Inquiry as a Teaching Methodology? • What results is • student ownership • for enlarged • understanding of • concepts and values.

9. Scientific Inquiry • Encourages students to thinkcritically about inferences and logical relationships between cause & effect • Often begins with a question about a natural phenomenon.

10. Scientific Inquiry • Once asked, a process of scientific inquiry begins • Eventually a proposed explanation • Experimental design is also part of the inquiry process. From “Teaching About Evolution & the Nature of Science,” N.A.S.

11. “You can’t get students to think critically without asking critical questions” Carmen Serret-Lopez

12. Bloom’s Levels 1.REMEMBER: recalling information 2.UNDERSTAND: comprehend meaning 3.APPLY: using learning in new situations 4.ANALYZE: ability to see parts & relationships 5.EVALUATION: judgment based on criteria 6.CREATE: Use parts to create a new whole

13. Level 1 -REMEMBER Recalling Information • What information is given? • What are you being asked to find? • What formula would you use? • What does _____mean? • What is the formula for...? • List the... • Name the... • Where did...? • What is...? • Who was/were...? • When did...

14. Level 2 -UNDERSTAND Comprehending Meaning • What are you being asked to find? • Explain the concept of... • Give me an example of... • Describe in your words what ___ means. • What concepts does this connect to? • Draw a diagram of... • Illustrate how _____ works. • Explain how you calculate...

15. Level 3 -APPLY Using Learning in New Situations • What additional information is needed to solve this problem? • Can you see other relationships that will help you find this information? • How can you put your data in graphic form? • What occurs when..? • How would you change your procedures to get better results? • What method would you use to... • Does it make sense to...?

16. Level 4 - ANALYZE Ability to See Parts & Relationships • Compare and contrast _____ to _____. • What was important about... • Which errors most affected your results? • What were some sources of variability? • How do your conclusions support your hypothesis? • What prior research/formulas support your conclusions? • How else could you account for...?

17. Level 5 -EVALUATE Judgment Based on Criteria • How can you tell if your answer is reasonable? • What would happen to ____ if ____ variable were increased/decreased? • How would repeat trials affect your data? • What significance is this experiment to the subject you're learning? • What type of evidence is most compelling to you? • Do you feel ____ experiment is ethical? • Are your results biased?

18. Level 6 -CREATE Use Parts to Create a New Whole • Design a lab to show... • Predict what will happen to ____ as ____ is changed? • Using a principle of science, how can we find ...? • Describe the events that might occur if... • Design a scenario for... • Pretend you are... • What would the world be like if...

19. Why Is This Important? • State and National surveys indicate that approximately 90% of the questions K-12th grade students are exposed to are lower-level questions. • In college this trend reverses, and students deal primarily with high-level critical questions.

20. TIMSSRecommendations • To increase rigor and give students a chance to study each topic more deeply: • encourage the use of higher-level inquiry questioning that requires students to use their creativity and imagination.

21. Inquiry In Science Learner performs lab activity Teacher asks students probing questions Science as inquiry is when… Learner reads about prior scientific investigations Learner justifies proposed explanation

22. Text-Driven Inquiry • Beluga Whale Article • Read each passage and answer the questions on Cornell notes

23. Where Do Belugas Survive?

24. Passage One • Why do you think the number of whales has not increased? • What is the question that would best guide a scientific investigation about why the population of whales does not increase?

25. Passage Two • Based on your understanding, were the original investigations adequate? • Did scientists use appropriate tools & techniques to gather, analyze & interpret data? • Did scientists use evidence to explain that whales died because of pollutants? • What would be the best approach to design & conduct a scientific investigation that would demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship?

26. Passage Three Briefly identify portions that illustrate one of the aspects of scientific inquiry. I.Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. 2. Current scientific knowledge & understanding guide scientific investigations. 3. Math is important in all aspects of scientific inquiry. 4. Technology used to gather data enhances accuracy and allows scientists to analyze and quantify results of investigations.

27. Passage Three Briefly identify portions that illustrate one of the aspects of scientific inquiry. 5. Scientific explanations emphasize evidence, have logically consistent arguments, and use scientific principles, models, and theories. 6. Science advances through legitimate skepticism. 7. Scientific investigations sometimes result in new ideas and phenomena for study.

28. What do the Footprints Say???

29. Mission • Reconstruct happenings from the geological past by analyzing a set of fossilized tracks • Form defensible explanations of past events from limited evidence. • As more evidence is available, modify or abandon your hypotheses.

30. Position #1 • Can you tell anything about size or nature of organisms? • Were the tracks made at the same time? • How many animals involved? • Can you reconstruct a series of events represented by this set of fossil tracks? • Suggest evidence to support your explanations!

31. Position #2 • With new info, revisit first explanation • MODIFY your explanation and/or add newones

32. Interpret What Happened

33. Questions to Consider... • In what directions did animals move? • Did they change speed or direction? • What might have changed the footprint pattern? • Was the land level or irregular? • Was the soil moist or dry? • In what kind of rocks were the prints made? • Were sediments coarse or fine? • Characteristics of track environment?

34. Remember! • Any reasonable explanation must be based only on those proposed explanations that still apply when all of the puzzle is projected

35. For Each Explanation... • Be sure to indicate the evidence! If you could VISIT the site, what evidence would you look for to support your hypothesis? Adapted from a BSCS lab

36. Constructivist Process • Journey in which the voyagers arrive without a map in hand • Guided by the questions, "Where are we now?" and "Where should we go next?” • Teacher initiates & facilitates learning activities that help students create their own maps to the territory

37. Scientific Modeling • The “Black Tube” Model • Investigate the tube with all your senses • Make a drawing of what the INSIDE of the tube looks like • Post your drawings and take a “museum walk” to look at everyone’s model

38. Open-ended Inquiry • Creates the opportunity for students to design their own experimental and compare their analyses with groups. • Teaches students to comprehend science as a process • Promotes COLLABORATION

39. Levels of Openness • Level 0 = Students make few decisions-other than deciding whether they got the "right answers." • Level 3 = Students decide what to investigate, how to investigate it, and how to interpret the results they generate. • Level 3 activities are what most scientists do

40. Experimental Design • Whole faculty agrees on what the students in ALL sciences need to do: • to be able to design an experiment • to be able to write a GROUP lab report • to be able to graph information

41. Example: Pill Bug Experiment • Demonstrates experimental design principles and scientific method • Constructivist Approach • Open-ended lab

42. ExD Template Title: Hypothesis: Independent Variable (IV): Dependent Variable (DV): Control: Constants: 1) 2) 3)

43. Creating an ExD • Define the problem • “The Effect Of Substrate On Pillbug Habitat Selection” • Define the Independent Variable(s) • Time in habitat chamber • Define the Dependent Variable(s) • Type of substrate

44. Creating an ExD • Define the Experimental Group(s) • Cut grass, wood chips • Define the Control Group • Chamber with natural humus substrate

45. Creating an ExD • Make a Hypothesis • If Pillbugs prefer the natural humus chamber, then they will stay there at least 80% of the time after the first 10 minutes of experimentation.

46. Creating an ExD • Determine the Experimental Constants • Moisture level, temperature, food, lack of predation • Choose and Sketch the set-up

47. Creating an ExD • Determine thenumber of trials or groups needed for validity • 10 pillbugs/chamber • 10 thirty-second trials • Determine how the results will be quantified • # of pillbugs/ chamber/30 sec • T-test

48. Write Up the Procedure • 1)Prepare achoice chamber • 2)Cover the bottom of each chamber with either wood chips, cut grass or natural humus • 3)Transfer ten pillbugs from the stock culture into each choice chamber • 4)Cover the chambers

49. Write Up the Procedure • 5)Count and record how many pillbugs are in each chamber every 30 seconds for I0 minutes

50. Run the Experiment • Quantitatively summarize data • Make a Bar Graph of the number of pillbugs in experimental and control chambers per 30 second interval. • Perform a “t-test”