INQUIRY LEARNING

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INQUIRY LEARNING

• Saouma BouJaoude
• Sahar Alameh
• Nada Radwan
• Science Education For Diversity Project
• American University of AUB

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WS Learning outcomes

• Describe the elements of inquiry-based learning
• Specify and define the steps of inquiry
• Develop good inquiry questions
• Describe the role of learners and teachers in
  inquiry-based learning
• Differentiate between traditional and inquiry
  teaching
• Describe the characteristics of an inquiry based
  science activities
• Describe strategies to implement science inquiry
  activities
• Design curriculum-based science inquiry
  activities exciting activities
• Develop frameworks to evaluate science inquiry
  activities

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Introductory activity

• Title The balanced box
• Question How was the box designed to work as it
  does?
• Procedure
• Observe the box carefully
• Use the observations to produce a design of the
  tube

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Conclusions

• Knowledge is constructed by humans
• Knowledge is speculative and unreliable
• Knowledge grows through exposure

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ACTIVITY Definition of Inquiry

• PURPOSE The purpose of this activity is to
  introduce participants to the K-W-L-H method in
  order to initiate inquiry and specify its steps.
  The activity stresses the importance of
  prior-knowledge and teachers and learners
  generated questions in inquiry.

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Question

• What are the sources of energy on which human
  beings depend at the present time?

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Tentative list of energy sources

• Food
• Fire
• Animal labor
• Rivers
• Wind
• Sun
• Fossil fuels
• Chemical
• Atomic
• ..

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Investigate the following questions

• What changes took place overtime in the energy
  sources available to human beings?
• What are the trends for energy consumed by each
  person over time?

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Questions

• What specific questions are you interested in
  answering related to energy sources and energy
  consumed by each person?
• Knowing that Chart 1 was developed in 1972, how
  can we learn more about energy sources and energy
  consumed by each person now and in the future?

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Questions that can be asked

• What energy sources are available now?
• What do you expect the amount of energy used for
  food by each person daily to be now?
• What do you expect the amount of energy used for
  transportation by each person daily to be now?

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Questions that can be asked

• What energy sources are available now?
• What do you expect the amount of energy used for
  food by each person daily to be now?
• What do you expect the amount of energy used for
  transportation by each person daily to be now?
• What sources would you use to get new data on
  energy?

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Criteria to evaluate web pages

• Accuracy. The author and institution that
  published the web page is provided along with
  ways of contacting him/her
• Authority. The page presents the authors
  credentials and its domain (.edu, .gov, .org, or
  .net).
• Objectivity. The web page provides accurate
  information with limited advertising and it is
  objective in presenting the information.
• Currency. The web page is current and updated
  regularly (as stated on the page) and the links
  (if any) are also up-to-date.
• Coverage. The information in the web page can be
  viewed properly--not limited to fees, browser
  technology, or software requirements.
• Refer to http//www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/
  ref/research/webcrit.html

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ACTIVITY 1

• TITLE Why does the water rise?
• MATERIALS
• Trough or basin,
• Matches,
• Gas jar,
• Birthday candles,
• Modeling clay

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Activity 2The Egg and the Milk Bottle
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What is inquiry?

• Inquiry is a teaching method that engages
  learners in authentic investigations in which
  they identify problems, ask questions, propose
  solutions, make predictions, design procedures,
  collect, and organize data, and draw conclusions.

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What is inquiry - Details

• A teaching strategy that aims to teach learners
  how to conduct investigations and to use and
  assess evidence in order to answer questions or
  solve problems.
• Primarily aims to develop learners higher order
  and critical thinking skills. Content provides a
  context for developing and practicing thinking
  skills. Content and thinking are inseparable.

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What is inquiry-Details

• A genuine problem is essential for the success
  of inquiry teaching in developing learners
  thinking skills
• Learners (and preferably the teacher) do not know
  and have no access to the or an answer. They
  have to reach conclusions based only on their
  investigations and their data

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What is inquiry-Details

• A genuine problem (that lends itself to
  investigation) guarantees that learners (and
  their teacher) will have authentic experiences
  (similar to those of researchers) in assessing
  the validity of various claims, and adjudicating
  between contradictory claims concerning a certain
  phenomenon

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Inquiry steps

• Step 1. Framing The Investigation
• Step 2 Designing the Investigation
• Step 3 Collecting and Presenting Data
• Step 4 Analyzing and Interpreting Results

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Activity 3

• Title How many points are touching?
• Materials A bobby pin (hair pin) for each pair
  of participants.
• Question Where is it easier to feel the tip of
  a pin touching your skin, on your hand or near
  you shoulder?
• Hypothesis What is your hypothesis?

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Procedure

• Ask the subject of the experiment to hold out
  his/her hand with palm up and close his or her
  eyes
• Divide the length of the hand and arm into 20
  equal intervals
• Randomly touch the hand or arm with either one
  tip of two tips
• Ask the subject of the experiment if he is being
  touched with one or two tips.
• Circle the correct or incorrect responses in the
  following table.
• After you have finished colleting data switch
  roles and repeat the activity.

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Follow up questions

• Where was it easier to tell how many tips were
  touching?
• Why did we make more mistakes the higher up the
  arm the pin was touched to the skin?
• What makes our touch sense more sensitive?
• Where would a cut in the skin hurt most?

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Hypothesis testing

• What pattern can you get from looking at all the
  results?
• Was your hypothesis confirmed and rejected? What
  evidence do you have for your decision?

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General inquiry model

• Identifying a question or problem
• Forming hypotheses
• Gathering data
• Assessing hypotheses
• Generalizing

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Good Inquiry Questions

• It may have more than one answer
• It can be studied/ It has a possible answer
• There is data available or can be collected about
  it.
• Others might find it useful or beneficial.
• It is conSEDely and exactly phrased.

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Good inquiry questions-examples

• Do roses that are kept in the light 24 hours per
  day grow taller than those that are kept in the
  light 8 hours a day?  
• Which frozen liquid melts the fastest water,
  milk, or soda pop?  or  Which liquid evaporates
  the fastest?  
• Does your pulse rate increase or decrease after
  listening to music?  

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Good inquiry questions

• Do batteries stored in the freezer power a toy
  car longer than those stored at room
  temperature?  
• Do pumpkins that weigh 5 kilograms or more or
  more contain more seeds than those that weigh
  less than 5 kilograms?
• Does the size of the wheels on a toy car affect
  the distance it travels?
• Does the temperature of water affect how fast
  salt crystals (or sugar crystals) melt?

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"Not Good" inquiry questions

• What causes dew?
• How is igneous rock formed?
• How does dishwashing soap clean away oil?
• What did the Tyrannosaurus Rex eat?
• What keeps a satellite in orbit around a planet?

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The General Inquiry Model

• Identifying a question or problem
• The T, the Ss or both generate a problem
• The problem is genuine and relevant to Ss
  interests and/or needs (or current/future
  content)
• The problem is discussed, clarified, and defined
  through discussion

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The General Inquiry Model (contd)

• Forming hypotheses
• Ss suggest tentative solutions (hypotheses) to
  the problem
• Initially all hypotheses are accepted. Then the
  hypotheses are discussed and assessed for
  relevance and their verifiability with evidence
• One or a few hypotheses are selected for
  investigation
• The tentative nature of hypotheses is emphasized

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The General Inquiry Model (contd)

• Forming hypotheses
• Ss suggest tentative solutions (hypotheses) to
  the problem
• Initially all hypotheses are accepted. Then the
  hypotheses are discussed and assessed for
  relevance and their verifiability with evidence
• One or a few hypotheses are selected for
  investigation
• The tentative nature of hypotheses is emphasized

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The General Inquiry Model (contd)

• Assessing hypotheses
• Ss discuss and analyze their data
• Ss assess the validity of their tentative
  hypotheses based on the collected evidence
• The logic of hypothesis testing is highlighted
  (prove/disprove vs. lend/detract support) and the
  value of hypotheses (even the ones rejected) in
  guiding investigations is emphasized.

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The General Inquiry Model (contd)

• Generalizing
• Ss discuss whether and to what extent their
  conclusions can be generalized
• Valid generalizations are drawn

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Activity 4

• Title Why does popcorn pop?
• Procedure
• Works in groups of 4
• What is your hypothesis?
• Design an experiment to test your hypothesis

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Herron ScaleEvaluating the Level of Inquiry
Level Problem Procedure Solution
0 X X X
1 X X
2 X
3
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Activity 5

• Title The heavy newspaper!
• Procedure
• I will use the thick piece of wood to deliver a
  strong blow to the piece of plywood hanging from
  the edge of the table.
• What will happen? in what direction will the
  newspaper fly? To the front? To the back?
• Think-Pair-Share this question. Ask them to
  explain their prediction.

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Explanation

• The plywood breaks because the downward force
  from the blow of the hammer (or piece of wood) is
  counteracted by the downward force due to
  atmospheric pressure acting on the newspaper
• Atmospheric pressure is caused by the weight of
  the air above the surface of the Earth.
• Pressure is defined as force per unit area
  Pressure (P) Force (F) / Area (A). The force in
  this case is caused by the weight of the air
  above the surface of the Earth. The larger the
  surface area, the larger the force due to
  atmospheric pressure

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Activity 5

• Title The efficient diver
• Procedure
• What will happen if I squeeze the bottle in
  different places
• Observe carefully what happens and write down
  your observations.
• Use the Think-Pair-Share strategy to and explain
  their observations

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Explanation

• Squeezing the bottle increases the pressure in
  the water and compresses the air inside the pen
  top. This increases the mass of the dropper but
  the volume stays the same, therefore its density
  increases. Note the following
• An object with a density less than that of a
  fluid will float in that fluid and an object with
  a density more than that of a fluid will sink in
  that fluid.
• Pascal's law Pascal's law states that when there
  is an increase in pressure at any point in a
  confined fluid, there is an equal increase at
  every other point in the container.

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Question

• Describe the teaching strategy I used in the
  previous activities.

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Predict Observe Explain (POE)

• Step 1 Predict
• Ask the learners to write independently their
  prediction of what will happen.
• Ask them what they think they will see and why
  they think this.
• Step 2 Observe
• Carry out the demonstration.
• Allow time to focus on observation.
• Ask learners to write down what they do observe.
• Step 3 Explain
• Ask learners to amend or add to their explanation
  to take account of the observation.
• After learners have committed their explanations
  to paper, discuss their ideas together.

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Predict - Observe - Explain (POE)

• POE can be used for
• finding out learners' initial ideas
• providing teachers with information about
  learners thinking
• generating discussion
• motivating learners to want to explore the
  concept
• Generating investigations.

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Activity 6

• Materials
• A round balloon
• Two small plastic or glass cups (with a smooth
  rim).
• Procedure
• Blow up the balloon about one third way.
• Hold one cup in each hand. Hold the cups against
  opposite sides of the balloon (while the balloon
  is in the mouth) and blow further (until about
  twice the size).
• Let go of the two cups.

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Activity 6
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Activity 6

• What concepts were derived from this activity?
• What other examples can you think of?

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Learning Cycle

• Exploration
• Learners experience objects and events, discover
  patterns and relationships, and are not given
  answers or labels
• Term introduction
• Learners determine relationships among objects
  and events and teacher helps learners construct
  appropriate labels or provides the labels
• Application
• Learners apply their knowledge of a given concept
  to other situations and teacher encourages
  Learners to discover examples to illustrate the
  concept or concepts

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Working With Circuits

• Work in groups of 4 to change the activity into a
  learning cycle laboratory.
• When you finish, one of you will present the
  activity you designed to the other groups

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Activity 7

• Title Electricity
• Procedure
• You will need two dry cells two light bulbs, and
  several pieces of wire.
• Use one wire, one dry cell, to light one bulb.
  Draw your set-up (s)
• Use two dry cells, and several wires to light one
  bulb. Draw your set-up (s).
• Use two dry cells and several wires to light two
  bulbs. Draw your set-up (s).

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Challenge

• What is the internal structure of the light bulb

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Learning cycle

• Research has shown that the learning cycle is an
  efficient model that can be used at all
  educational levels.
• Two issues however, are missing from the model
• Engagement
• Evaluation
• Thus the 5 E model was developed

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5E Model

• Engagement
• Exploration
• Explanation (or term introduction)
• Extension (or application)
• Evaluation

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Engage

• Activity which will focus students attention,
  stimulate their thinking, and access prior
  knowledge.

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Explore

• Activity which gives students time to think and
  investigate/test/make deSEDions/problem solve,
  and collect information.

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Explain

• Activity which allows students to analyze their
  exploration. Students understanding is
  clarified and modified through a reflective
  activity.

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Extend

• Activity which expands and solidifies student
  thinking and/or applies it to a real-world
  situation.

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Evaluate

• Activity which allows the teacher to assess
  student performance and/or understandings of
  concepts, skills, processes, and applications.

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Comparison of Learning Cycle and 5E

• Exploration
• Term introduction
• Evaluation

• Engagement
• Exploration
• Explanation (or term introduction)
• Extension (or application)
• Evaluation

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Group discussion

• How do you transform the learning cycle
  activities we performed into 5E model activities?
• How do evaluate inquiry activities?
• Rubrics

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Rubric
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Activity 8

• Why can a person lie down on a bed of nails and
  not be injured?

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Explanation

• The explanation of this phenomenon is related to
  the fact that the force per unit area of skin
  (i.e., pressure) is what determines if a nail
  will pierce the skin.
• The force is determined by the weight of the
  person lying on the bed of nails.
• The area is determined by the effective area of
  the tip of the nail, or nails, in contact with
  the skin.
• When a 'bed' of nails is used, the same force
  produced by the weight of the body is distributed
  over perhaps hundreds of nails. Therefore, the
  force applied to any one nail is correspondingly
  reduced, with the result that the force per unit
  area at the tip of any one nail will be below the
  level required to pierce the skin. Since this
  applies to all the nails in the bed, no nail then
  penetrates the skin.

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Activities 9 - 13

• Title Can you boil water in a paper cup?
• Title Why are the raisins dancing?

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Teaching Science with Discrepant Events

• A discrepant event is a science activity that can
  create cognitive dissonance in the mind of a
  learner.
• A discrepant event provides the learner with an
  opportunity to think critically in order to solve
  a problem
• There is an element of surprise in the science
  activity as the students are watching attentively

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Teaching Science with Discrepant Events

• A discrepant event motivates students to think
  beyond the obvious
• It helps children employ their prior knowledge in
  resolving the conflict.
• While actively engaged in exploring a discrepant
  event, students have an opportunity to utilize
  some or all of the science process skills.

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Teaching Science with Discrepant Events

• Suggestions for presenting discrepant events
• Let students replicate the discrepant event. Let
  them work in groups of 2-4 students.
• Ask the students to think and write down their
  ideas and possible solutions to the inconsistency
  created by the demonstration
• Assess students prior knowledge by using a
  verbal questioning technique. Use variety of
  questions. Remember Blooms Taxonomy.

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Teaching Science with Discrepant Events

• Watch out for students misconceptions.
• Your questions should represent all levels of
  Blooms Taxonomy
• Dont be so anxious to provide the answer to the
  discrepant event right away.
• Provide many opportunities for students to
  experience success.

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The Futures Wheel

• The futures wheel is a teaching technique that
  encourages students to think creatively in
  exploring the implications of a particular issue
  or event.
• There are no right answers when completing a
  futures wheel, and no deSEDion-making occurs.
• It is used to analyze issues in preparation for
  deSEDion-making. Students look at an event,
  experience or deSEDion and ask "What might happen
  if...?"

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Objectives of a Future Wheel

• Students will be able to
• Understand that every deSEDion, technological, or
  scientific development has numerous effects.
• Develop a futures wheel to explore the effects of
  a deSEDion, scientific, or technological
  development.
• Recognize the value of the futures wheel as a
  tool for thinking about the effects of
  environmental deSEDion, scientific and technology
  developments.

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Conducting a futures wheel activity

1. Explain that every event has an impact on other
   events or factors. Distribute the handout and
   show the students how the handout is interpreted
   beginning at the center circle and proceeding
   outward.
2. Divide the class into groups of four to six
   students. Tell the students that they are to
   select a possible environmental deSEDion, future
   scientific or technological development as the
   subject for their futures wheel.

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Conducting a futures wheel activity (Contd)

• Next students should ask themselves
• "What might happen if...?"
• Each group should come up with three to five
  answers to this question.
• Explain that these first responses are called the
  first-order connections.
• A circle should be drawn around each response,
  and a single line should connect these responses
  to the central event.

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Conducting a futures wheel activity (Contd)

• Then each group should asks "What might happen
  if...?" about each of the first-order
  connections.
• A double line should connect each second-order
  connection with the first-order connection that
  caused it.
• As students work, remind them to thing of both
  positive and negative connections.

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Conducting a futures wheel activity (Contd)

• The diagram produced by the group then is shared
  with all the class and, if possible,
• A common futures wheel is drawn for the whole
  class.
• It is worth noting here that a futures wheel may
  be used to analyze any issue in school situations
  and in everyday situations.

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Major Elements of Constructivist Learning

• Activating prior knowledge
• Acquiring knowledge
• Understanding knowledge
• Using knowledge
• Reflecting on knowledge

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The role of the teacher in inquiry

• Assumes the role of a facilitator of the inquiry
  process
• Plans the various aspects of the lesson and
  guides learners in their investigations
• Insures that learners are given ample time to
  conduct their investigations and go through the
  whole inquiry process
• Encourages learners to reflect on the various
  aspects of their investigations