make just one change chapters 1-4

What is inquiry-based learning?

An old adage states: "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand." The last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning.

Inquiry is defined as a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning.

Inquiry-Based Science Pedagogy versus Traditional Science Pedagogy

In a traditional science classroom, the teacher uses a textbook and worksheets to transmit knowledge and explain conceptual relationships to students. Students listen to their teachers and are later responsible for memorizing the information to restate on a test or some other written evaluation of knowledge.

            The instructional approach in an inquiry-based science classroom looks very different from a traditional science classroom. Teacher and student roles are shifted, as well as the kinds of learning activities and evidence for learning. Teachers in inquiry classrooms take on the role of a coach and model learning and inquiry processes for students.   Furthermore, student engagement in an inquiry curriculum is a must.

The authors of Make Just One Change argue that formulating one’s own questions is “the single most essential skill for learning”—and one that should be taught to all students.

The Question Formulation Technique

This technique helps students learn how to produce their own questions, improve them, and strategize on how to use them

The QFT has six key steps:

Step 1: Teachers Design a Question Focus. The Question Focus, or QFocus, is a prompt that can be presented in the form of a statement or a visual or aural aid to focus and attract student attention and quickly stimulate the formation of questions.

Step 2: Students Produce Questions. Students use a set of rules that provide a clear protocol for producing questions without assistance from the teacher. The four rules are: ask as many questions as you can; do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer any of the questions; write down every question exactly as it was stated; and change any statements into questions. Before students start generating their questions, the teacher introduces the rules and asks the students to think about and discuss possible challenges in following them.

Step 3: Students Improve Their Questions. Students then improve their questions by analyzing the differences between open- and closed-ended questions and by practicing changing one type to the other. The teacher begins this step by introducing definitions of closed- and open-ended questions. The students use the definitions to categorize the list of questions they have just produced into one of the two categories. Then, the teacher leads them through a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of both kinds of questions. To conclude this step, the teacher asks the students to change at least one open-ended question into a closed-ended one, and vice versa, which leads students to think about how the phrasing of a question can affect the depth, quality, and value of the information they will obtain.

Step 4: Students Prioritize Their Questions. The teacher, with the lesson plan in mind, offers criteria or guidelines for the selection of priority questions. In an introduction to a unit, the instruction may be, “Choose the three questions you most want to explore further.” When designing a science experiment, it may be, “Choose three testable questions.” An essay related to a work of fiction may require that students select “three questions related to the key themes we’ve identified in this piece.” During this phase, students move from thinking divergently to thinking convergently.

Step 5: Students and Teachers Decide on Next Steps. At this stage, students and teachers work together to decide how to use the questions. One teacher, for example, presented all the groups’ priority questions to the entire class the next day during a “Do Now” exercise and asked them to rank their top three questions. Eventually, the class and the teacher agreed on a question for their discussion

Step 6: Students Reflect on What They Have Learned. The teacher reviews the steps and provides students with an opportunity to review what they have learned by producing, improving, and prioritizing their questions. Making the QFT completely transparent helps students see what they have done and how it contributed to their thinking and learning. They can internalize the process and then apply it in many other settings.

Question

Based on what you have read, in your opinion could using the QFT consistently increase class participation, classroom management, and enhance teaches efforts to address inequities in education.

Boldly Braiding Unit Plan

Boldly Braiding Group Unit Plan

Brainstorm:

1.     Cause – providing shelter for the Homelessness

2.     Tool – statics of different variables concerning the homeless

3.     Art form – fashion design of light weight luggage or tents

4.      

Objective/Purpose: During this unit, students will be able to understand the steps of scientific method and apply them to the issues of homelessness.

Background/ justification:  Students do not understand that the scientific method is utilized for the purpose of solving everyday problems.  Furthermore living In the inner city, my students notice quite of bit homeless where individuals are sleeping on a park bench or under a tree thought out night.  My goal as a educator is to help students understand that the purpose of science is not only used for discovery but also a tool to improve life.

Skills:   

This unit will require Students to be able to…                                                         

- Summarize findings after reading a variety of informational texts.

- Support statements using evidence from the text.

- Use scientific tools to measure distance, volume, and mass within the metric system.

- Infer the role of Earth and space science in the everyday world.

- Compare and contrast elements of the scientific method and experimental design.

- Perform calculations to convert units within the metric system.

- Acquire skills needed to safely carry out scientific inquiry with the lab.

- Read and interpret scientific data and research.    

- Work cooperatively with their peers to find solutions to common problems.

Content:

Students will understand that…

·      Scientific inquiry is carried out through a process called the scientific method.

·      The metric system is used throughout the scientific community because it is based on powers of 10 and allows scientists to share information around the world.

·      Scientific experimentation must be carried out with precision and accuracy in a safe manner to attain valid results.

·      How is the study of Earth science relevant to your everyday life?

·      In what ways can scientific inquiry be used to solve daily problems?

·      Why is lab safety important for learning Earth science?

·      How can I demonstrate higher order thinking skills on a daily basis?

Community Building Assets:

This unit will empower and encourage students to use their knowledge for the betterment of their community and not just their own materialist gain.   Also, this exercise will help the students complete their community service hours while providing the much need service to the homeless.  Overall, this experience help students not just to over look the real life issues that affect their community; but it forces them to rather look at solutions to their problems by utilizing the scientific method.

Other Expertise:

Students will need to do research to understand what season or weather that creates the most troubles for the homeless.  Also, they would need to investigate the different trends of current portable garments bags today to understand what materials are needed.

Materials:

- $75

- notebook

- pens

- materials from the cloth store

- sewing machine

- wheels

- spikes

- adjustable shower curtain pole

Student Activities:

This unit lesson will last for five week.  The first three weeks students will be engaged in learning, understanding, and applying the steps of the scientific method and how to converting units. The final two week of the lesson will be use to help students to create their projects. Students will use the internet to gain data on the homelessness, current styles of portable tents and understanding how to use a sewing machine.

Furthermore for the language art portion of the units, students will study the fashion design of current lightweight garment bags.  Also students will need to research the techniques that are utilizes in sewing materials.

For the science portion students will carry out a lab experiment to learn the proper use of instruments of measurement while demonstrating lab safety.

G- How do scientists measure distance, mass, and volume?

R- Students will take on the role of scientist trying to investigate how variables are measured within a scientific experiment.

A- Students will share their findings with the general public, in this case, their classmates.

S- Students must practice taking accurate measurements for distance, mass, and volume.

P- Students will take various measurements using the metric system and various scientific tools.  Comparison of the metric system to customary measurements will also be considered.

S- The format for the formal lab report along with the rubric for evaluation will be utilized.

The social science portion of the unit students will perform surveys thought out the community to understand the impact of homelessness with the neighborhood.  Also, students will donate the projects to the homeless shelter within their community.

Evaluation/Assessment:

 The students will present the projects at the school’s science fair which they will be evaluated on their style and user friendly qualities. 

Reflection: N/A           

 

Reflection 1 what is your learning foundation? 

To understand my learning foundation one must learn the writing by two educators.  These individuals are W.E.B. Dubois and Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse stated that, “education is the teaching and learning of knowledge considered necessary for the protection and enhancement of human life.  General education is a very recent concept.  Previously, education was restricted to the ruling class because:

a) The underlying population could not and should not be freed from procuring the necessities of life, that is, time to get educated;

b) The ruled classes were supposed to be “ protected” and consoled by the ruling classes.

Education is not general even today.   In fact, it is still largely an upper class privilege because educational inequality is an expression of social inequality.  The restrictions on education testify to the “subversive” element in education.  Knowledge, intelligence, reason are catalysts of social change.  They lead to the projection of the possibilities of a “better” order and the violation of socially useful taboos and illusions.” (Herbert Marcuse)

This statement written by Marcuse was from a lecture on education at Brooklyn College in 1968.

     I find Marcuse's statement of subversive element in education to be true then and today as well. Our education system has been funded by property taxes for over a hundred years hence revealing the disparities in education by school districts. Also, I say this because overcoming the subversive element in education was my learning foundation.  My elementary and high school experiences were filled with questions. For example, why are their school's facilities, test scores, and sport uniforms better than my school? Why don't we have a golf team? Why are there so many kids in my class? Why do our books look so old? Why do we only talk about slavery and the civil rights movement during black history month?  Why are the negative images colored black? Why does the word black mean “bad” in the dictionary? This storyline of social inequality that Marcuse spoke about unconsciously created a psychological disorder in my mind. Often times, it was difficult not to think of myself as a second or third class citizen because of my environment.  Ironically, these feelings pushed me to learn and be better than average. Although grade wise I was successful, I was only motivated for very short-minded reasons that surrounded materialistic gains.  The thoughts of gaining knowledge for the protection and enhancement of human life was never considered or a motivation of mine.  

Surprisingly, my learning foundation did not occur until after my academic career was over.  It was not until my personal goal of discovering the meaning of life that I begin my learning process.  W.E.B. Dubois stated that there are two forms of education; one that someone gives you and one that you give yourself; the latter is more important.  I find this to be true because it was not until I went on my own personal quest that I began to read books by John G. Jackson, Esther Hicks, and Dr. Ivan Van Sertima who increased my desire as a learner.  

 John Glover Jackson (April 1, 1907 – October 13, 1993) was a Pan-Africanist historian, lecturer, teacher and writer. His masterpiece, “Man, God, and Civilization” opened my mind to become a critical thinker and analyze society on all levels. 

     Dr. Ivan Van Sertima is a literary critic, linguist, anthropologist, and writer.  In 1977 he wrote, “They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America”, now in its sixteenth printing, for which he won the Clarence L. Holte Prize for excellence in literature and the humanities relating to the cultural heritage of Africa.  My numerous questions of “why” were answered through reading his literary works.

   Esther Hicks (born Esther Weaver) is an American inspirational speaker and best-selling author. Her books gave me the understanding of the power of the mind when focused.