week #2 anchor chapter - using levels of inquiry in the classroom (1)

8/10/2019 Week #2 Anchor Chapter - Using Levels of Inquiry in the Classroom (1)

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Using Levels

of lnquiry

Using

Levels

of

lnquiry

in

the

Classroom

1

in

the

Classroom

Chapter

I

EXECUTIVE

SUMMARY

The

clet,elrltmertt

of

mujor

concepl,s

itt u :;cience

clu:;,srurnt

is axplorecl lhrough

lhe

in.slrucliottul,fi"umeworkof

vuryingllte

level

rl'sluclent

iurluiry. An explorotion

eq)e-

rience,

inlerctct

ive elemort:;trutitn,

di,;ctlvery

erterinertl,

uncl

uppliccttion

chullenge

.\erve

os

llti,sfrernev,ork.fbr

increusing

the

let,al in

y,ltich

the :;ttrclents

usk

question,s,

det,ise netlrccls

lo uttswer

tha,s'e

que,stiott,y,

uncl

tlevelop

ut't,\v)ers b lhe

question.s'.

In,strttclionetl

technolog,

tool,s

such os

clttssrocttn response

system,\,

Google Docs,

lhe

ttse o.[blogs,

untl IlebA,r.sign

erre

inlegrulecl

into

the inquirt

experience

to.tltpport

the

leurning proce.\.t.

7-hi,s

intluiry

moclcl shifi,s the

locu.s

o.[utntrolJi'om

rhe

teucher

to llte

slttclettt,

as the

stuclentis,/nilicrrity

v,ith

neyt, concept.t cleepen,s.

Jcfi'cy

llylarrtlcr

Glenbrrok South High Scluol,

USA

INTRODUCTION

lf you

are a

teacher

olscience.

yoLr

and

youl

colleagues rnay

have

grappled

with

the

level

of

inqLrily

that you

build

into youl

classroorns. You

rnay lrave

heald

a

colleagtte

say,

"lf

I

present

an activity with

'cookbook'type

clirections. I arl

not

l'ostclirtg the

inquiry

that

Idesire

irt rny students.

On

the

other

hancl,

if'I

leave all

activity

operr-ettcled. try

students

eithel

flounder with

a

lack

of

directiolr

or heacl

dowll

a

patlr

that

does

not necessarily

leacl

to the

constl'uctiolt

of

ideas

that

ale

the

goal

of lny

instrtrctiolr."

You tnay

have even

hcr'cl

these

wolds

in

youl

or,vn

head.

lX) I

:

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Using

Levels of

lnquiry

in

the

Classroom

Figure

I.

Incluiry aclittities

grow

/rom

o lower

level

to

ct

the

developrnent of the

concepl

lnquiry

Experiences

Used

to Develop

Big

ldea

@

l-t"t*=.ti* I

I

Demonstration

I

@

@

have shifted

our

focus

from

breadth

to

depth

ancl

fi'onr

iustrLrctioual stlategies that

support coverage

to

those

that

support

inquiry

(Nelson,

1999). However, nrany

of

us still

feel we

have a

long way to

go in

bLrilcling

inquiry activities

that support

this

ultirnate

goal.

Regard

less

of exactly

what

you

believe a

scientifically literate student

looks like,

nrost agree

that

inquiry

nrust

play

a

signifcant

role in

producing young

adults that

can study the

world

around them

as

scientists

do.

Just as

inquiry

is

fundanrental

in

supporting science

literacy

skills,

varying

the

levels

of inquiry

is essential

in

the developnrerrt

of

the

continuurn

of

these

skills.

Wenning supports

this

by suggesting that the level

of

the science

litelacy

skillthat

can be

addressed

will grow

as the level

of

inqu iry-oriented

experience

grows

(2005).

While

Table

5

is

not

rnearrt

to be

comprehensive,

it does illustrate the scientific

literacy

skills associated

with

each

type of

irrquiry

activity

outlined

in Table

4.

As

we

seek

to develop this

scope

of literacy

skills

in

stuclents,

each

level

of

inquiry is

necessary

to acconrplish

this

task.

Although scientific literacy cloes involve

arr

understarrding

of

important corrcepts

such

as

cell functions, chernical boncling, plate tectonics,

and

Newton's

second

law,

scientific

literacy is

much nrore. lt is also a

way

of

thirrking,

of

asking

questious

and of

knowing how to fincl-answers to those

questions.

Our

charge

as teachers is

to develop in

students

these

intellectual

processes

by helping

thern

to

uncover

the

ideas

ancl

principles

that

govenr this world.

For

sure, the

developnlent

of

scientifi-

cally

literate

yourg

adults

is

no snrall task,

yet

we

are

able to srppofi the develop-

nlent

of science

litelacy skills by

varying

the

level

of

inquiry

that

we

use in the

c lassloorn.

9

higher

leteI

througltout

tv

-

t;

t

l.

lr

l

lr

lo

l

week #2 anchor chapter - using levels of inquiry in the classroom (1)

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