Early this year, after valiantly battling cancer, Mary Clare passed away. She was teaching up to the week before her death. She was that dedicated.

With the support of their principal Daniel Redmond, her colleagues Cara Maloney and Jill Ryan Wirtz decided to honor Mary Clare’s memory by holding the First Annual Teachers’ Science Fair at Durkin Park. They invited teachers from other Golden Apple Inquiry Science Institute schools and the Chief of Schools for Midway Network, Luis Soria. On Wednesday, May 8, 2013, teachers from Durkin Park, Tonti, Everett and St. Bede’s gathering in the Durkin Park multi-purpose room and spent 2 hours networking, eating pizza, participating in a “warm-up” activity on polar bears and global warming using the Wheel of Inquiry, and present their most successful inquiry science activities.

Here’s what that looked like:

Cara Maloney and Jill Wirtz demonstrate how they use the Wheel of Inquiry to help students think about variables.

Humberto Rodriguez (Tonti) and Erin O’Neill (Everett) test the effects of icy water on insulated vs. non-insulated hands using Crisco to mimic polar bear fat.

Network Chief Luis Soria and Principal Daniel Redmond dive into the inquiry activity about polar bears and global warming.

That’s the background. Here’s the point.

Holding a Teachers’ Science Fair is a brilliant idea. Mary Clare was right. To get to know your colleagues from other schools, to learn from them how they are implementing inquiry in their own classrooms, to share some of your favorite inquiry activities and leave with some new ones is part of what being a professional is about, and it’s not something we teachers do often enough. We tend to become siloed in our own schools, if not our own classrooms, and much of our professional development comes from providers who aren’t in classrooms anymore rather than from ourselves. What if we took back the reins more often and created our own professional development experiences? Why should we wait for others to set the dates and times and topics? Why not be self-directed in our professional learning, and not just in terms of our own college courses and pursuit of endorsements. Why not be self-directed with colleagues, self-organizing, creating our own professional learning communities simply because we want to and will benefit from both the collegiality and the learning?

This is an idea you could implement yourself. Just grab a couple of colleagues, pick a date, and put out the word.  Think about all the wonderful activities  and strategies teachers in schools just a few blocks away have to share with you.

I know that Mary Clare Lynch would have been thrilled with the Teacher’s Science Fair. She would have given so much to that day and derived so much from sharing with her colleagues. Her colleagues Cara and Jill did it for her.

As one of the teachers wrote on the evaluation, “Great job!  Love the idea!”

Thanks, Mary Clare!

~ Penny

ISI Performance on ISATs 2011 & 2012

With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) on April 9, we enter a new era. New assessments will replace the ISATs, assessments that we believe will be more in line with what the Inquiry Science Institute promotes instructionally by following the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education upon which the NGSS is based and the NGSS itself. The new tests, if they are well constructed, should assess higher order skills than ISATs ever has, skills like the ability to frame thoughtful questions and solve complex problems.  But whatever they do, the tests will probably still come down to numbers … to winners and losers … unless they are used formatively and don’t become the sole arbiter of what schooling is all about.  There is so much more! It’s just not easily quantified.

The kinds of things tests don’t measure include whether or not a student has developed a passion for something that could lead to a productive life, the kind of passion that provides the necessary motivation and incentive to work hard, to learn at a deep level, and to commit a significant part of one’s life to engagement with whatever the focus of that passion is.  And they don’t measure the teacher to student relationships that can shape character and inspire the course a life will take. They don’t measure the creative capacity of the individual or the potential contribution that young person could make to the world. They don’t measure the intensity of engagement in the satisfying work of learning. And they don’t measure the joy a student feels in mastering something new after trying very hard, taking a risk, failing, and yet keeping at it.  All of these things seem much more significant in creating a successful life than what our testing culture seems to value most.

The Intensity of Engagement in the Work of Learning (Till Elementary)

And in the process of all this testing, we’ve created a crisis of conscience for teachers.  You remember them?  They are the professionals, the men and women (more often women) who dedicated themselves to educating children and helping them develop their talents, expand their knowledge, and find their way in the world. Let’s listen to some early childhood teachers as they describe what school has become for very young children and, as a result, what they as teachers have become party to against their own better judgment.

“NWEA (MAP) testing is done on a computer and my Kindergarten children have never seen a mouse before. For the most part they are clicking to be clicking … directions are being read to them and they are just learning, developing their skills, so I question the validity of the test because of the lack of experience of Kindergarten children with testing. I don’t think they would ever hit the back button if they realized something was wrong … they are babies … they just want to look at the pictures. They just pick anything. They are innocent; they’ll do whatever you tell them.  I just feel sorry for them. The test makers don’t know children this age. When do 5 year olds get to act like five year olds?”

“I wonder about the NWEA … who is it really for? I had one little girl who spent an hour on the test because every time she got something right the test got harder. Other kids just clicked through getting all wrong answers and were done in no time. These tests take away from good instruction because you teach to the test even though you may not intend to … fluency is about how fast you read … now I’m taking time to teach them how to read faster … it has nothing to do with comprehension.  If we really care about what children know, why are tests even timed?

“You create a climate where nothing matters but the test. If you have a climate like that what does it matter that I come to school and learn? We’re not teaching for transfer any longer … what you learn is no longer connected to life. Children sometimes are so good but fail the ISATs and have to go to summer school. Others don’t know anything but are good guessers. One of my students last year, he can’t read, but he passed his ISATs. Since they don’t look at our assessments, how do they balance that against the ISATs?  I have a student who can sit and read to me but as soon as you take out the iPad, he loses all of it.  You (the teacher) turn into someone you don’t like.”

“The testing turns us into bean counters.  We start looking at data; we stop looking at kids.  There’s danger in that. Kids are not cars.  It’s not even about individual kids anymore.  It’s about groups of kids.  There’s a danger in that.  You’re not addressing that child’s needs.  No group all needs the same things, not with such huge ranges of abilities in the classroom. If you want people actually looking at kids and what their strengths and weaknesses are, there’s a danger in how we are currently assessing. With everything we know about child development … testing at these grades (primary) is not developmentally appropriate.”

“I don’t think third graders should be tested.  It’s too much pressure at such a young age.  It’s counterintuitive to everything we know about what good practice is and everything we know about how kids learn. We need to help them develop the joy of learning before we thrust the test at them.  Why does a third grader need to have test taking skills?  They need to have reading skills. Instead, they lose 3 months of learning in K, 1, 2.  Individual tests, one on one with teacher, means the teacher is not instructing the other children, who are instead doing worksheets.  Assessment is certainly important to make instructional decisions for children.  But how can what somebody gets on an ISATs test mean more than the weekly, monthly work I do with that child?  It takes no account of where they came from, where they started.  What does it say about teachers and honoring their craft? There’s no respect for the practice of teachers and the professionalism there. We want people to be literate beings … thinkers.  Testing doesn’t get us there.”

“We are not teaching children social skills anymore.  They are not learning to use small motor skills, gross motor skills, conflict resolution, no cutting days (learning how to use scissors). Those things don’t happen any more. I’ve had to teach kids in second grade how to cut. We are stealing childhood from children.”

These teachers make excellent points and raise questions we would do well as a society to ponder.

So while, by the numbers, those looking at ISI schools’ results on the standardized tests measuring student achievement in science might expect us to be pleased and proud (which we are), we are elated every time a student of a teacher we’ve taught how to use inquiry instructional practices says, “I love science!” We are much more pleased when we are able to assist teachers to put more of the joy back into learning … and into teaching.  And we are prouder when our teachers activate and pursue the inquisitive nature of each child, because that’s how we define inquiry. It is that same spirit of inquiry, which continuously “makes new magic in this dusty world.”

The Joy of Science (Nightingale Elementary)

~ Penny

Questions that pose a challenge or spark curiosity, that require a prediction or offer an entry point for novel constructions using diverse materials are ripe candidates for Family Science Night activities. And they are fun for the whole family.

At Nightingale, the Family Science Night Planning Committee paired up an upper and a lower grade teacher to choose a science activity for the evening that would lend itself to an intriguing focus question and an engaging half hour of hands-on/minds-on collaboration between parents and children … facilitated by the teachers.

Two teachers facilitate hands-on/minds-on activities for parents and children.

Every family was given a schedule that included the names of the teachers running the activity, the room number, a hook question and the name of the actual science activity being done that session. Because the school has a large Latino population, the schedule was given in English on one side of the paper and in Spanish on the other. They ran two half-hour sessions, and once all the available seats were filled, closed the classroom doors. First come, first served.

Activities used very simple, inexpensive, and easily acquired materials: balloons, Oobleck (made of cornstarch and water), and the ever popular (with children) glow sticks.

Cleverness was the guiding principal in framing the hook question. “Is the force with you?” “How heavy is your load?” “What floats your boat?

After so many years during which science has been marginalized in favor of language arts and math, the subjects measures by the standardized tests, parents have to be re-introduced to the fun and importance of science, so that they can better support their children in learning science and participating in science related activities like science fairs. In response, many more schools are adding Family Science Night to the calendar of activities to better engage parents in their children’s education.

~ Penny

A standing room only auditorium was soon electrified by laughing cheering parents and students.

Teresa de Jesus-Silva, 1st grade teacher at Nightingale and a member of the Science Committee that planned the program, described the inspiration for the evening. “We had our first science fair and science fair projects and wanted to exhibit them for the parents, and we thought why not have some science activities for them as well? Our principal (Meg Kouretsos) suggested we do a Family Science Night. We’d learned activities last summer at the Inquiry Science Institute and thought we would share those same activities with the parents. We’d never done a science night before, but I had organized nights devoted to literacy and math, so we had a template for the science night. Our goal for the evening was to get kids excited about learning science and to see that science is all around them.”

Emily Cozzi, 1st grade teacher, suggested that each activity be facilitated by a team of one primary  teacher and one upper elementary teacher. “We decided to do it this way so that the older students could also visit their teachers and bring their younger siblings with.” This arrangement also allowed the nine iTEAM teachers to co-facilitate an activity from the Golden Apple summer program with a colleague who hadn’t participated in it. Twelve classrooms were open, and parents and students could choose from that many activities for each of two half hour sessions.  Some activities were so popular that people had to be turned away at the door.

Upper grades teacher Joe Estela recounted, “I would have to say that Family Science Night did have an impact on the students’ perception of science. At least a dozen students approached me in the hallway the following day to tell me how much fun they had and how they really like science now because it’s a lot of fun. Colleagues were impressed at how well the whole night turned out. They were very impressed with the level of work that the students put forth in their science fair projects, the enthusiasm the kids showed for the activities and the number of families that still turned out, despite the bad weather. I feel from the conversations that I’ve had with my colleagues, that their idea of what science class used to be and what it might be in the future is changing. The idea of “Read this passage from the book, answer those questions at the end of the chapter, and then watch me do this demonstration in front of the class,” might be fading away. I know that a lot of teachers don’t like to teach science because it requires a lot of preparation and there is always the fear that the students will ask a question that they don’t know the answer to. But, I think that with the leadership of the iTeam, we can help to change that mentality here at Nightingale.”

Joe Estela is surrounded by eager students who are spending their evening doing science … simulating the formation of moon craters.

Mr. Estela also reported increased student interest in science in his classes. “I have seen a change in some of my students since science night. I have one student named Ivan who was an average student in science class prior to science night, but since then has shown an excitement in my class that wasn’t there before. He has gone from a “C” to an “A” since science night, and he even watches the Science Channel at home. He is always reporting new things that he has learned on his own time to me every day. I also have a student named Oscar who participated in my Moon crater simulation. He told me that for his birthday present, he wanted to ask his parents for a telescope so he could become an astronomer and hopefully an astronaut in the future. I have to admit that made me feel really good.”

Primary teacher and iTEAM member Maretzy Berrera observed, “students have been so excited about the whole process of science night. Every time we do science in the room, they ask can we do this next time at science night? One of our goals for the night was to spark a love for science in the students. I truly believe that we achieved this goal.”

Maretzy Berrera introduces cricket races to parents and students. The first step is to identify the gender of your cricket by using a magnifying glass.

Ms. Cozzie reported, “We were amazed to see so many kids standing on their seats with excitement for science in the auditorium! A month later my students are still talking about it. We are mixing liquids in science and they are referring back to the demonstrations in the auditorium.”

Parents had a great time making Oobleck … and are already asking about next year’s Family Science Night.

The children weighed in as well. Elias said, “Science Night was funny and great because they mixed solids and liquids and did cool things! It was funny because they mixed solids and liquids. Then they ate them and gas came out of their nose.” Isaac added, ” Science Night was awesome because we got to do science stuff, do real experiments, and see real experiments!”

Ms. de Jesus-Silva said, “I was impressed that so many fathers showed up to participate.  And at the community session, the science show that Bill Grosser and Jim Effinger of ISI put on, you could feel the excitement in the air.” Ms. Cozzie added, “I was talking to a parent who has three young boys at Nightingale. She said her husband was dreading coming but always comes to the stuff at school to support her and the boys. She said he had just as much fun as the boys and cannot wait until the next Family Science Night.”

Teresa de Jesus-Silva engages parents in an ISI activity on magnetic force.

When asked what advice she would give other teachers wanting to create a Family Science Night, Ms. de Jesus-Silva stressed the importance of teamwork. “Everyone pitched in. This is an intense program to put together. You need a good working team with everyone contributing. We had a science committee of 6, plus those teachers who are on the iTEAM. Teachers who were facilitating a science activity had to select the activity and get their own materials. In the end, 45 teachers stayed for the evening. Nightingale is a large school, so I would suggest that it’s better to open a smaller number of classrooms for activities so that you have more people in each session.”

One of the high points for the children was the science kit they got to take home to perform a surface tension experiment their teachers had learned in the ISI program. The kits contained a pipette, a penny, a magnifying glass, a notebook, a pencil and the science activity instructions. 275 kits were distributed.

Speaking of next year, Ms. de Jesus-Silva said they have already made a connection with another school that did a Family Science Night this year, and they plan to trade activities with them for next year.  Ms. Berrera continued, “One of my only concerns is how will we top this next  year when this year was so great. This year we had 185 families. I predict that next year we will see even more!”

Nightingale Elementary School is located at 5250 S Rockwell in Chicago and is a CPS neighborhood school of approximately 1400 students.

Sugata Mitra, this year’s recipient of the TED Prize, calls that the central pedagogical question philosophers of education have been debating since Plato. When was the last time that “central” question was raised at your school? Isn’t the question you are more likely to be asked “How will you raise your students’ test scores?”

The Next Generation Science Standards, scheduled for release in final form in a few weeks, stands a good chance of edging us away from the brink of the insanity that is the over-testing of our nation’s children, arguably a kind of child abuse in the extreme form it has taken in many districts, and toward a consideration of pedagogical approaches that are more likely to spark children’s creativity, curiosity, and wonder than anything we are currently doing in schools.

Consider the working definition of inquiry-based instruction that Golden Apple’s Inquiry Science Institute team follows in designing the professional development we offer teachers. It is our central pedagogical question, if you will, in a program that sees developing good questions as one of the essential skills of teaching. In shaping an inquiry lesson …

How can we facilitate the construction of knowledge by activating and pursuing the inquisitive nature of each learner?

The inquisitive nature of the student is at the heart of a successful inquiry lesson. The teacher’s role is to spark that curiosity and so totally engage it that students eagerly dive into doing science with a sense of purpose, wonder, and creativity.

This is what that looks like (note the body language):

Children in high poverty schools … in over-crowded classrooms, using the simplest of low-tech materials … can be absolutely engaged in conducting inquiry investigations with an eagerness, a sense of purpose, and the clear ability to solve problems to rival that of any research scientist. All children can do real and rigorous science (and mathematics and engineering), if their teachers know how to foster these dispositions rather dampen them by teaching to the test as so many are compelled to do right now.

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) will require a different pedagogical approach than what is currently the norm. It will be heavily inquiry-based, and it will challenge students to observe, to question, to hypothesize, to design novel solutions, and to solve complex problems.

In a webinar held soon after the release of the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education but before the NGSS were developed, Stephen Pruitt, Vice President for Content, Research and Development for Achieve and the individual who has led the development of the Next Generation Science Standards, said, “We have to realize that things are going to have to be different. We have to recognize that the way we have historically done things is going to need to change, which is going to make some people a little uncomfortable.”

We believe that one of those changes will be the absolute requirement that all of us in education finally return to that most essential question: How do we spark creativity, curiosity and wonder in children? For, indeed, we must.

~ Penny

But before we fondly revisit  highlights from the past two years and offer a peek into some of the classrooms of the teachers who were the focus of this program, I want to address why it matters that we do this work — and why it matters that our teachers adopt a hands-on, inquiry-based approach to teaching science.

The recently published 2011 National Assessment of Education Progress at Grade 8 Science reported the following:

• Students doing hands-on projects in class more frequently score higher that students whose teachers reported students did hands-on projects less frequently.
• Students who work together on science projects weekly or daily score higher on average than students whose teachers reported that students did so monthly or never.
• Students who report doing science-related activities that are not related to schoolwork score higher.

It’s worth noting here that the NAEP science test identifies and measures four practices in addition to science content.  “These four practices – identifying science principles, using science principles, using scientific inquiry and using technological design – describe how students use their science knowledge by measuring what they are able to do with the science content.”  Respectively, the time spent on these four areas in the 2011 Assessment was 25%, 35%, 30% and 10%.

So hands-on makes a difference; inquiry makes a difference; students working together doing science makes a difference; and students who get excited enough about science to want to do science for fun outside of their school day . . . that makes a difference too!

And that’s why we do science the way we do.  So, now, how do we do science?

Vignette 1:  Byrne Elementary, Mrs. Lidia Arriaga’s Third Grade Class

Mrs. Arriaga is an experienced Nationally Board Certified teacher who, prior to ISI, hadn’t felt as strong teaching science as she did other subjects.  On one of our visits to her classroom, she shared that science had now become her students’ favorite subject and a terrific inducement for all of them to turn in their homework each day.  After all, as she told them, “Scientists are responsible people.  Responsible people turn in their homework.” She proudly reported that she was achieving 100% homework completion from her “responsible scientists.” And she happily added that she was enjoying teaching science, something she hadn’t felt as confident doing ever before.

On this particular day, Mrs. Arriaga’s third-graders  were studying the effect of water on M&Ms – as simple and inexpensive as that.  Meaningful science can be done in regular non-lab classrooms using everyday materials.  And what can children learn in an activity like this, which, by the way, absolutely delighted them?  How to observe and record their observations in science journals. How to collect and record data and identify and measure variables like time and temperature.  How to ask questions and identify and describe the properties of materials. And in a very memorable and contextualized way, they learned the meaning of concepts like dissolution and diffusion.  Reflecting on their observations and results in their journals at home, they can also design additional experiments by deciding which variables to control for.

Beyond that, and beyond the test scores, this was a classroom filled with eager, curious, excited, engaged, happy children who were taking their role as scientists very seriously indeed. Priceless!

Here’s what it looks like:

Working Together Doing Hands-On, Inquiry-Based Science Increases Student Achievement

In the coming days, we’ll publish more vignettes of special moments in our ISI classrooms. In the meantime, we want to welcome the following schools to the program: Brown, Carroll, Edwards, Fulton, Gillespie, Harte, Kohn (returning), Mayo, Mollison, Nightingale, Pershing West (returning), CICS-Prairie, Robinson, Tanner, Till, Wentworth, West Pullman, Whistler, and Woods. We look forward to working with the principals and teachers of these schools this summer and beyond.

~ Cacie

Here is the full quotation in context:

“Sister Agnes Patricia was the most influential teacher I ever knew. What I will always remember about her is her statement that there is no such thing as teaching — only learning. She believed that no teacher could ever teach anyone anything. Her task as a teacher was to create an environment in which the student can learn. Knowledge, she told us, standing very straight in her long black habit, her face framed by her white wimple, pointed at the top like the spire of a cathedral, needs to be pulled into the brain by the student, not pushed into it by the teacher. Knowledge is not to be forced on anyone. The brain has to be receptive, malleable, and most important, hungry for that knowledge.”

How closely related that is to some of the “eternal verities” that guide Golden Apple’s Inquiry Science Institute: “Teaching and learning are not synonymous.” “We can teach, and teach well, without having students learn.” “Knowledge is seldom transferred intact from the mind of the teacher to the mind of the student.” “Knowledge is CONSTRUCTED in the mind of the learner.”

Knowledge is Constructed in the Mind of the Learner . . . At Every Age

If these assertions are true, what’s a teacher to do,  particularly in the current high stakes test environment?

One of the most difficult lessons for us to learn as teachers is to step back from being the asker of all questions and the font of all answers, and to let students explore, question, design, ponder, and grow in their own way and in their own time.  To an extent, some of this is beyond our control, given the rigid testing schedules and prescribed curricula most teachers must follow.  But there is always a significant portion of the classroom experience that is within our control, and that’s where our professional responsibility kicks in.  Because the struggle is more often with our own need to control and direct the learning process than with external directives.  But when we can challenge that need in ourselves for the benefit of our students, something wonderful happens.

From various teachers in our Inquiry Science Institute program, I’ve heard versions of the following: “I never realized how smart my kids are.  It was hard for me, but I’ve been letting go and they do just fine figuring things out on their own.  Better than I expected. Now I’m learning right along with them.”

They aren’t the first to make this important discovery. The acknowledged father of adult learning theory, Malcolm S. Knowles, described how he came to adopt an inquiry approach in his own teaching.  Or rather how he became “a facilitator of learning” rather than a traditional teacher.  He took a course at the University of Chicago with Professor Arthur Shedlin who placed responsibility for the seminar squarely in the hands of the students.  At the end of a semester in which Knowles said, “. . . I had never worked so hard in any course,” he did what all good teachers do, he reflected on what had happened, in this case, what it means to be a facilitator of learning, as Shedlin called himself, rather than a teacher.”

“I . . . experienced myself as adopting a different system of psychic rewards.  I had replaced getting my rewards from controlling students with getting my rewards from releasing students.  And I found the latter rewards much more satisfying.  . . . I found myself performing a different set of functions that required a different set of skills.  Instead of performing the function of content planner and transmitter, which required primarily presentation skills, I was performing the function of process designer and manager, which required relationship building, needs assessment, involvement of students in planning, linking students to learning resources, and encouraging student initiative.  I have never been tempted since then to revert to the role of teacher.”

Because as Sister Agnes Patricia so wisely said, “there is no such thing as teaching.”

Have you stopped teaching? What is the most difficult part of becoming a facilitator of learning? What have been the psychic rewards of doing so? The challenges? How have your students responded? Will you continue?  What next?

~ Cacie

“Students loved science lessons (literally, some asked to use recess time to build in more minutes for investigations with balance and motion)! They were more engaged. Through interdisciplinary links, they also searched for and shared, with each other and through writing, more science content knowledge.”  (Smita Garg, 2nd grade, Pershing East Elementary)

Kids Love Working Together . . . Fostering Teamwork

“The students (or my little scientists) took so much ownership over their notebooks.  They had pride in their work — even those who found it difficult to keep things neat and tidy — really pushed themselves to do so.  The use of focus questions really helped the scientists to understand what it was that they were specifically trying to ‘take away’ from their learning exploration.  The claims and evidence charts helped them to organize their analysis of what happened, and I found often produced stronger observations than just simply prompting them to write an analysis.  I used signals and a prolonged wait time without confirmation of correct or incorrect responses across all subject areas.  WOW!  My scholars loved this!  It was a challenge for them to produce an idea and so rewarding once they got the nod from me that their idea was noted.  It increased the amount of thinking in the classroom and promoted a more secure environment in which to share our thoughts and feelings.”  (Amanda Bernacki, 4th grade, Pershing West)

“They are very thoughtful — Graphs and charts became a staple within our science class — my third graders went from struggling to understand graphs and charts in relation to science to creating their own without guidance to record data!  Science is a favorite subject for all!  Including the teacher!”  (Laura Shakespeare, 3rd grade, Langford Elementary)

“Their oral participation has increased knowing that there is more than one answer to the same question.  I have a lot more students willing to share their work than I can take in a class period.” (Lidia Ariaga, 3rd & 4th grade, Byrne Elementary)  Lidia also told us that her students are turning in their homework (100%), so that they can participate as scientists.  ”Scientists are responsible people.”

M & Ms & Science Journals Make for Careful Observation and . . . 100% Homework Completion!

“My students’ reactions became more and more positive as I released the amount of responsibility on to them.  They were excited to seek answers to their own questions and demonstrate/apply their understanding of other disciplines (graphing data).  My students also seemed inspired by the additional exposure to science careers, as they were overheard on numerous occasions talking about becoming a meteorologist, vet, pediatrician, astronaut.  One student even wrote about being the latter in a  poem during her library period! (Christina Frum, 4th grade, Kohn Elementary)

Students As Scientists: What a Powerful Idea!

“Kids want to do more hands on activities!  I have heard kids say ‘I love science!’ This is cool. This makes me <3 happy!”  (Diane Esquibel, 7th-8th grade, Durkin Park)

When students offer to give up recess time to do more science, when they talk about pursuing careers in science, when they are contributing more during class and are more engaged than you’ve ever seen them before, doesn’t it make your heart happy, like Diane’s?  And isn’t that what you came into teaching to do?  To inspire kids to love to learn?

How have your students responded to inquiry science?  Please share your experiences by leaving a comment.

~ Cacie

Cheers to Inquiry Science! from Susan McDonald, Tina Frum, Candice Brooks, and Ain Muhammad.

We asked the Advanced Inquiry teachers, “What have you done differently as a result of last summer’s program.”  What follows is, in their own words, what several of our fantastic iTEAM teachers have done differently.

“My entire approach to teaching has changed as a result of last summer’s program.  Now I am a facilitator of learning, where I provide opportunities for students to practice science.  Gradually throughout the year, I released the learning responsibility to the students.  Instead of sticking to ‘cookbook’ labs and activities, I allowed students to explore and investigate questions that they created.  By the end of the year, students were designing their own controlled experiments, recording and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.  I also added science journals, used Project WET lessons, and covered additional topics compared to the previous year.”  (Tina Frum, Kohn Elementary)

“I’m letting the kids make mistakes and ask questions – I became a facilitator.  They researched and inquired about things.  For instance:  They would ask questions about the effects of different size wheels on a car.  I would say, ‘I don’t know, try it – do some tests.’ It was so much fun, watching them.”  (Humberto Rodriguez, Tonti Elementary)

“I have allowed my student to explore more.  I have given them less direction and more opportunities to make their own scientific discoveries.  I have developed focus questions for each investigation or I have helped my students form the focus question.  I have focused more on the process to getting the ‘answers’ in science.  I also believe my students understand there is usually more than one answer and sometimes we may not know the exact answer or solution.”   (Erin Roberts, Pershing East, Kindergarten)

Marva Anyanwu and Erin Roberts Reach Critical Mass

“I have had students collect their data and when summarizing or writing reports use the data as the evidence to support their findings.  Also when reading in the content area of science, students were to make sure to connect the evidence with their assigned writing task.”   (Marva Anyanwu, Green Elementary)

“I have used science journals and learned to step back to allow the students to lead, and for me to facilitate . . . not giving all the answers.”  (Rachel Sarauw, Langford Elementary)

iTEAM teachers range in experience from a second year teacher to a teacher with over thirty years in the classroom, but each has incorporated new ways of teaching into her or his classroom practice.

As one of our teachers said this summer, “The most important thing about inquiry is it gets students involved in their own learning.”  Teachers too!

Paula Henderson, Lidia Arriaga, John Lewis, and Diane Esquibel Create Electricity!

What will you do differently this year in your classroom?

~Cacie

Their current science activity involves working with racing cars that the children designed and built themselves.  Today they will test what difference the size of the wheels makes in the distance the car will travel.  After some basic directions for the session, Mr. Rodriguez asks his students to clear away desks in the middle of the classroom so they can construct their track.  Desks are quickly (but quietly) pushed aside, and the kids set to work.

Several lay meter sticks end-to-end spanning the length of the classroom.  Sections are held together with clear heavy-duty tape.  A ramp at one end of the meter sticks serves as the launch pad for the unique vehicles the children made with various snap together pieces:  wheels, frame pieces, and Lego-type shapes.

Ingenius Machines

Let Her Roll!

“Measure the distance your car travels in centimeters,” Mr. Rodriguez tells them.

The children each do three trials with their cars and in the context of this playful science learn how to find an average for the first time.  “Three trials.  Divide by three.  Ten trials.  Divide by ten,” their teacher tells them.  The lesson takes because averaging is connected with figuring out how well you designed your car for traveling the greatest distance, something that matters to the children.

Bert Rodriguez has a background in gifted education and now uses the same strategies and activities with his regular classroom . . . and his students are all meeting or exceeding in math.   He took to inquiry science like the proverbial duck to water, “because it works with kids.”  I sit at a table where four boys earnestly debate how they might make their cars better.  4 wheels?  On one axel?

“Which would make it go farther, a larger wheel or a smaller one,” Mr. Rodriguez asks a girl, as I walk by and snap a picture of their animated discussion.

What Do You Think?

“So, what did you think of science class today?” Mr. Rodriguez asks the kids.  “Double thumbs up,” one boy proclaims.

All children should be having this much fun learning.

Without much ado, engineering, math (gathering of data, measurement, and averaging) and science are all rolled into one, fully integrated.  And literacy as well, because children explain their inventions in writing.

Writing About Science = Writing About Thinking

And while it’s part of a unit on force and motion, it could easily be a unit on electricity because you can almost harness the electricity in the room to power the cars.  I ask a boy if he likes science.  He answers yes and adds, “I like that we get to experiment and do things I’ve never done before.”

This is alive!  There isn’t a single discipline problem in Mr. Rodriguez’s class.  When kids are engaged and learning, when they have agency, they don’t need to act out, to demand attention.

Defining inquiry, Mr. Rodriguez says, “I just think of it as we just find out what we can find out, we learn in the process of doing these neat things.  And the kids come up to me and ask me questions . . . like about how to find the average, and I answer them or send them to a child who has already learned how.  They can teach each other.”

Future Engineers?

And the same can be said of teachers.

~ Cacie