Counting and Measuring
(Adapted from "Helping Children Plan Investigations" in Harlen, W. and Symington, D. Taking the Plunge. Portland, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.)
1. Broad questions: How might the pulse rates of different people compare? What is there about people, or what they do, that might affect their pulse rate? What are some things that might affect a person's pulse rate ?
2. Some variables that might affect heart rate: children or adults of same and different age, weight and height; sitting versus standing position; before and after eating or exercise; different times of day; adults before and after smoking. . .
3. Narrow questions: Do people of the same age (weight) have the same pulse rate? Does sitting give a different rate than standing? Is your pulse rate the same after eating (exercise)? Is your pulse rate different at different times of day? Is an adult's pulse rate the same before and after smoking?
4. What variables might be explored for these questions? Give a narrow question for each variable.
How do organisms found
in ponds differ from those found in streams?
Do smells/tastes affect our moods and behavior?
What are some differences in the contents of owl pellets?
Under what conditions do pillbugs live best?
(Adapted from "How to Use Closed-Ended and Open-Ended Activities." In ?)
Purpose: To use ourselves as subjects, collecting and analyzing data to generate questions that could lead to further inquiry.
1. Each person in group determine his/her resting pulse rate (beats per minute). Make a data table or chart summarizing this information for the group.
2. Look at the data. What patterns, connections, relationships, questions are suggested? What additional information would be needed to explore or test these?
3. Using the data collected from the group, generate as many questions as possible about variations in heart rate among this group of people. Which could be further explored with the people in this room? Which need to be narrowed?
Other possibilities to explore: Distribution of "handedness" (preference for using one hand or the other), relationship to other manifestations of laterality (preferred foot, eye, direction, etc.)
Purpose: Use groups of natural objects to stimulate observations and questions that could lead to further inquiry.
3. Based on this exploration and observation, generate as many questions as possible about your collection. Which are most interesting? Which could be investigated by further observation, experimentation? Which need to be made narrower? Which need additional information from books, experts, or other sources? Which may not be answerable?
Possible Questions Are all these leaves from the same plant, or different ones? Why are they different colors? Why do some have holes? How did the holes get there? How come the edge of this leaf is jagged ( or smooth) and the others aren't? Did the jagged leaves all come from the same plant?
Did all these bones come from the same pellet? How many bones are in each pellet? Do bigger pellets have more bones? If the pellet stays out on the ground for awhile, what happens to it?
How did all this stuff get here? What are the different kinds of "stuff"? Would we find this stuff in other places, or only in this particular spot?
To use pre-observation sketching and description to activate prior knowledge and conceptions about a natural object/organism, and stimulate questions to be answered by observation.
To use observation of a natural object to clarify/answer questions/preconceptions and to generate further questions of interest to the learners.
To develop/refine questions into investigable ones that can be explored by further observation and/or experiment.
To design and conduct investigation (experimental or observational) of learner-generated questions.
I. Prior Knowledge/Preconceptions Ask people to think about a pillbug, and sketch it from memory, putting in as much detail as they can remember. (Emphasize this as focusing exercise, not test of artistic ability.)
Sketch pillbug while observing it as closely as you can. Again, include as much detail as possible; use sketch as focusing exercise.
Label/describe using no "scientific" words.
Possible questions to
Structure: What is pillbug shape? How many legs does it have? Are all legs alike? How is front of pillbug different from the back? How can you tell which is which?
Behavior: How does pillbug move? How do legs work? All together, alternate, or ...? What does it do when it comes to a barrier? How would you describe its path? Does it move in straight lines, curves, erratic? How does the pillbug respond to touch? Another pillbug? Being put upside down?
III. Generating Questions
Considering pillbugs, what do you wonder about?
Generate list of questions from group: Which questions can be answered by looking at the "bugs" further? Which can be explored by devising an experiment? Which are broad questions that can be narrowed down (by considering variables?)
IV. Investigation Choose one of your questions and design a mini-investigation to explore it.
V. Communication Share/communicate your experience with the group. Include: what you wondered, how you explored, what you found, how "good" was your question? (Criteria: investigable, interesting . . .?) How would you continue/change your investigation next time? Any new questions?
VI. Reflection What did you learn during this experience?
Compare this learning experience with more "traditional" model. How does it feel as a learner? Frustrations? Fun?
What advantages/disadvantages for teachers, students, Museum educators? What are key elements of this experience that differentiate it from other models? What other elements/approaches could make it more powerful?
Life Science Inquiry Activities
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