Inquiry: Deeper Understanding

Since the beginning of the semester, we have been exposed to Inquiry. At first, I thought Inquiry was a way of studying objects and getting a sense of what scientists do. But, its not as easy as that. As educators, we have to live Inquiry. One definition is not enough. We have been exposed to three definitions for science Inquiry and the general term. These definitions don't just come out of the blue: these definitions come from higher authorities in the science community.

Furthermore, we have gained profound experiences in the realm of Science Inquiry. We have taken pretests on Inquiry for the purpose of comparing preconceived ideas on the term with new insight. This is a great way to dismiss any errors.

On Monday, we did several activities all for the purpose of truly knowing Inquiry. First, we saw a videos on students engaged in Inquiry in their classrooms. Then, as a group, we provided observations and answered questions to what we saw. This experience counts as professional development because we are learning something that is supplemental to our career.

In addition, we have worked in groups on many occasions. Not only have we performed Inquiry models, but we have performed Inquiry itself. We also understand the role of scientific disclosure and Inquiry. We have read to each other and edited each others words.

Presenting to Peers

We had an awesome assignment on Monday. We all paired up and gave a presentation. I was paired with Alejandro. We were given a page with information on "The Student Lens." We read about how a young girl with a green thumb was not accepting new information because it contradicted her gardening experience. The little girl that she needed to use soil, sunlight, water and fertilizer for her plant to grow. So, when her teacher said that a plant makes its own food, the little girl would not accept that to be true. The problem was defining terms. The Student Lens is the perception that a student that has not reach abstract thinking skills uses to accept and reject new knowledge and, thus, subscribes to misconceptions.

My group was the first to present. After presenting, Josh had a question and I tried to answer it without listening to it completely. I felt bad because he didn't get to finish his question. (I sometimes think I can read people's minds, but I can't.) The next two presentations were about "The Scientist's Lens" and we were going to see a video of strategies that teachers can use when presenting. (We will see the film next Monday.) I identified the secret: probing. By asking the right questions, a teacher can test her students' comprehension. Our next critical review is on Scientific Discourse and probing is a key term in the reading.

First Hand Experience at Inquiry

On Monday, we were given a treat. We played junior scientist in an inquiry class. The objective of the inquiry class was hidden because it's like reading a detective story: you have to wait at the end to see "who done it." This made the experience more exciting, because of the element of surprise; the anticipation was rich and because we had to question our observations ourselves, no perspective was wrong.

We were given three stations; grouped in pairs and took on one challenge at a time. Dish detergent, a hand-propelled mixer, bowls, plates and spoons where our material on the first station Alex and me were given. Our instructions were to use the material and make a one foot tower, over a dish, made entirely out of foam. Alex went straight to work. He gave stroke after stroke for over 20 minutes, while I held the bowl in position and brought some water from the pitcher. I don't think any one got to a foot, but we came very close.

The next station had two very sweet looking soda cola bottles (Root Beer & Cream Soda,) a carton of eggs, shaving cream, hardening powder and the same material from station one. If I remember correctly, our job was to test the density of the different kinds of foam we could make. It might have been the stiffness of the dabs of suds. The shaving cream won, bar none. And, the soda came last. The next station was like the first, but the challenge was to see what could make better foam: foam made from 200 strokes or 400 strokes. Alejandro chose the greater one and his gave more soap than mine. Our hypothesis was correct: the more you beat the soapy water the more foam you'll get. We finished off by jolting down some reflective questions and we all departed into the night.

The Abuse Clock Narrative

The first time in weeks that I've had relief from chronic back pain. The doctor said it was my neck: arthritis on the C1 or C2, I can't remember. Two clocks on my face looking at me with a tedious consistency. "You can't stop me," they both said at the same time. (They really didn't say it, but the impression is still the same.) over 8 hours ago, I got a call from my Scope & Sequence partner, Skarlett. "I decided to turn in the presentation," she said without taking a breath. I felt the whole world falling on my head and then hitting me in the stomach. What had happened? The day before I spent all day and night working applying the benchmarks and formatting the 36 rows of week to be filled. It finally dawned on me, she took ll that work and turned it in as if I didn't exist. I didn't make a sound. All I wanted was to get it done before those 25 points where out the window.

On Saturday, I stayed up finishing the format and I had e-mailed the 24 benchmarks for physical science grades 6 to 8. I had asked her to do some of the activities on Sunday morning so, I worked on number 24 and up before I called her. Of course she didn't do an activity; not even the five that I asked her to do. I was almost finished with grade 8 and ready to do grade 7 when I called Josh Williams, the other student in our class. I always ask Josh for advice. I asked him: "So, Josh, what do you think about the choice I made? Since professor Morales wrote choose either a grade or subject, I picked physical science grades 6 to 8." He screamed without waking the dog. "No!," he screamed silently, "you were supposed to do only 6th grade." That was the last thing I had to hear. There's a saying that says: "Never ask what could go wrong." All I could think of was all that time I spent asking why the instructions and templates and document weren't like the ones my professor showed me. My brain was attacking me for making it work over 12 hours a day on this assignment. All for 25 points. This arduous experience won't be a fond memory, but I loved the things I learned about middle school competencies. Like the saying goes: "They can't take that away from me."

Scope & Sequence

Yesterday was a fun day. Professor Morales gave us an real life example of science inquiry. We've read in books and seen it in films, but yesterday, we were the students in an inquiry class. Our assignment had four segments: observation, research, verbal presentation and experimentation. I enjoyed the observation because we were given ample time to look at 5 or 6 photographs and try to say what was the problem and what we thought the cause of the problem was. We called out many good ideas and we were able to recognize the theme: water pollution.

The research was taken from K12Science.org I was in charge of explaining the sample testing for Nitrates. The eutrophication of South Beach and the Keys were given turns out to be below what makes it a problem. That means that the plant life do not hinder the environment for other organisms.

Professor Morales explained that in one of our classes, the student would be able to use "real-time" with their collaboration project with the Global Water Sampling Project. The K12Science.org is one of many great resources that we can use to help our students gain the best that they can from the learning experience.

After class, Professor Morales spoke to use individually about our progress. I had been e-mailing her about Scope & Sequence. The Livetext document she showed us is not in any of the places I've seen. Luckily, I've recorded most of the expectancies of Scope & Sequence in my notes from the get go. All I need is for her reply. Scope & Sequence is an interesting concept. This is the way we introduce our field experience notebook. The segment include: a picture of the school, a sketch of the classroom(s), the demographics of the class, professional development and so on.

Sources:

The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education.
2008. Retrieved on March 4th, 2008 from:
http://www.k12science.org/