Inquiry as…….making and testing predictions

Grade 1s have been learning about forces in their How the World Works unit of inquiry. The conceptual focus for the unit is Function –How does it work? and Reflection – How do we know?

Throughout this unit we have been looking at inquiry as;

– making predictions and acting purposefully to see what happens

and

– making and testing theories

(Making the PYP Happen)

Using a soccer ball and a soft toy ball, one class conducted a range of investigations to see which ball would go further when kicked, thrown and rolled. Students worked in pairs to complete the investigations by predicting what would happen then testing their predictions.

Students were shown the footage above, prompting a discussion on their experiments and what they might tell us. Viewing their experiments in this way assisted students to develop theories of their own which can now be re-tested (“heavier balls go further”) and to ask important questions about their experiments….. (“what if one person is just a more powerful kicker?”).

Pre-Assessing for Attiutudes

Assessment in the PYP “identifies what students know, understand, can do, and feel at different stages in the learning process. ” (Making the PYP Happen)

Too often we leave assessing students’ feelings and attitudes to the end of a unit. Here is a grade 4 example of how identifying feelings at the beginning of a unit, during pre-assessement, can provide valuable information.

Using the a compass model of N, E, S, W – students identify what they Need to know about a topic, what they’re Excited about, their Suggestions about what they’d like to do and find out about in the unit and what they are Worried about.

This is valuable information for planning for differentiation – consider how differently you would approach a lesson if you knew which students were excited or terribly worried about it, and how effectively you could plan to support or extend them if you knew exactly what they were excited/worried about.

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Provocations

Provocations are a great way to get students thinking about the concepts behind a central idea.

As an introduction to their Sharing the Planet unit; People interact with, use and value the environment in different ways, the K2 team set up a provocation to get students thinking about the importance of looking after the environment that they are most familiar with – their classroom. 

When the students were out at recess the teachers trashed the classroom. Watch the video to see how the students reacted – with confusion, horror that someone would do that to their environment and eventually cooperation in order to restore everything to it’s original order.  It was perfect to get the students thinking about the importance of valuing their environment and a good (although an un-planned for) example of how people can work together to solve problems.

Displaying the Inquiry Cycle

Carol has been tracking her classes latest inquiry by recording student work and activities under each heading of Kath Murdoch’s inquiry cycle. This is a prominent display in the room.

Displays like this can help push students (and teachers) into the later stages of the cycle and provide a provocation for discussion and thinking (“what were we doing here?”, “why did we do that?”, “what can we do next?”)

Tuning In

Finding Out

Sorting Out

Going Further

“Finding Out” About Energy

3P used a range of resources and activities in the beginning of the ‘finding out’ stage of their inquiry into forms of energy and how energy is used and changed.

In a session that lasted most of the day, students were provided with a range of experiences catering to different learning styles and were given time to explore these. The watched videos, looked at diagrams, “played” with water wheels, performed experiments and made windmills – among other things. In groups, students rotated through all activities.

Tomorrow they will reflect on what they discovered and draw out the connections between the experiences. These experiences will anchor the unit and provide students with a first-hand reference and a foundation for building the unit’s knowledge and understanding on.

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Learner Profile Displays

Marion’s display for SLCs – students reflecting on how and when they have engaged with the learner profile. There reflections are displayed alongside their work.

"I am knowledgeable because i know a lot about the body parts. I know the names of the body parts such as heart, lung, liver, intestines etc. I know their location in the human body"

"In my diary i am a risk taker because i try to do my diary in my laptop"