Inquiry And Teaching Collection
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 8:52 PM
Inquiry Treasure Box
I really appreciate that you've compiled such an extensive collection on inquiry. I've found the journal article, Guest Editorial: Pathways to Inquiry interesting. It discusses how every grade level, even very young students, have the capacity to use science process skills. This is reassuring for me personally as I'm certain that I will be teaching, but at what grade level of elementary school I do not know. I am very well aware of how curious young children are, but have been concerned about how long they can focus on a topic. The article touches on the issue of time available for inquiry lessons in science. I've been concerned about teaching Kindergarten and 1st grade students as I am aware that their attention spans can be quite brief. The author recommends giving students the opportunity to "proceed through through different stages over time, starting with an initial exploration to develop curiosity and questions, followed by more focused experimentation, and ending with sharing discoveries to support understanding of scientific ideas." I intend to implement this idea by planning our inquiry lesson in several shorter stages over the course of days or possibly a couple weeks. I feel certain that this will allow the students to experience fully inquiry lesson plans. Besides having my students meet their objectives by "getting" the concepts, I want my students to be able to "take ownership" of their investigations. I believe that with this strategy, the students will have the opportunity to develop a deeper curiosity and develop their own questions to explore. Thanks for sharing! :)