Questions are powerful tools that are central to scientific inquiry. Given the importance of investigable questions to scientific inquiry, what can teachers do to help students learn how to generate them? Possibilities the author explores in this article are (a) demonstrating to students that we value their questions, (b) providing students with opportunities to explore natural phenomena, (c) modeling asking investigable questions and providing examples of question stems, and (d) providing explicit practice identifying and refining questions.
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Carefully crafted experiences in the early childhood classroom can create learning opportunities for children that allow one curiosity to lead to another. Learning how to find out answers to fascinating questions is what science is all about. In fact, it can be as simple as learning how an ordinary egg can be changed. For the past year, the authors have worked together to develop science lessons for kindergarten that would allow them to tap into the natural curiosity of children. Using the 5E model of instruction (Bybee et al. 2006), they developed a unit around everyday objects and experiences based on their local and state standards.
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Investigable questions are important elements of lessons that promote inquiry and help students construct meaning. Good questions help students make links between what they know, what they want to find out, what they observe, and how their observations fit within the context of their learning and development. We want to encourage students to question and, perhaps, there are no dumb questions. But there are questions that are better for providing rich experiences and conceptual understanding.
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This monthly feature presents facts and challenges for the science explorer.
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Formative assessment probes are used not only to uncover the ideas students bring to their learning, they can also be used to reveal teachers’ common misconceptions. Consider a process widely used in inquiry science—developing hypotheses. Perhaps you require your students to develop a hypothesis before engaging in the process of inquiry. If so, how well do you (and your students) really understand the meaning and use of a hypothesis? Before reading further, think how you would respond to the probe “Is It a Hypothesis?” (Keeley et al. 2008; Figure 1). Which of the statements A–N describe a hypothesis? Jot down your answers and think about your conception of what a hypothesis is (and isn’t).
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Students ask questions all the time. They have natural curiosities about the world in which they live. Teachers help pique this curiosity with engaging activities—making students want to know more. Therefore, experienced teachers listen for and to students’ questions to identify those that can be investigated. They know that such questions provide an opportunity for students to learn how to get answers for themselves. This article provides some general guidelines for enabling inquiry to take place in the elementary science classroom.
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For two weeks during Summer 2009, three elementary school teachers—Darcy Marcou, Melissa Lange, and Andrea Konitzer—participated in a science institute directed by Scott Ashmann, a science education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The purpose of this institute for elementary school teachers was to learn (a) more about Earth and environmental sciences and (b) ways to enhance their science teaching. In this article, they share three stories related to two types of science questions that emerged from this program; stories that could be replicated in your classroom.
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In addition to meeting National Science Education Standards (NSES) related to the history and nature of science (NOS), reading or hearing about real scientists helps students connect with science emotionally. The authors have even noticed increased student interest in science concepts during history of science discussions. Toward these efforts, and to tackle misconceptions, the authors have made use of historical science stories in their classes. In this article they describe how they developed and used a historical science story during an upper elementary life science unit.
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Having taught K–12 students and preservice teachers for almost 20 years, the author knows the problems that arise when students are asked to generate an investigation of their own design. Therefore, she developed some lessons that significantly increased the diversity and quality of the investigations students generated. This article describes three of the lessons she introduced to preservice teachers as they attempted to generate personal full-inquiry projects and later successfully tried with students in grades 4–5.
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Digital photography energizes students and focuses their attention on their environment. The personal connection to science helps students develop a habit of mind in which everything they see inside or outside of school can prompt them to wonder and investigate. This article describes how first grades explore their school grounds with cameras in search of science and wind up learning about how things rust.
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The “Testable Question Relay” was created as part of a fourth-grade unit on conducting science experiments. In the relay, student teams raced to “outfit a scientist” by correctly categorizing questions as testable or untestable and earning scientific tools. This activity assists upper-elementary students in recognizing the components of good investigative questions, addresses associated misconceptions, and aids students in developing questions appropriate for scientific investigation.
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It is hard to imagine anything good coming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; even suggestions that the public and private sectors will learn and adapt to ensure that nothing like it can happen again are almost as difficult to digest as the massive amount of oil that has now entered our ecosystem. To create a learning opportunity out of this incident, the author initiated some simple experiments and presentations that eventually morphed into a three-week course for grades 4 and 5. Students explored the effects of oil spills and investigated cleanup methods. This lesson has integrated academic disciplines that include math, reading, writing, and social studies.
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Why, what, and how: Three words that young students often speak when they are full of questions about activities and experiences in their daily lives. Helping students clarify their thought processes and ask a question that can be answered through scientific inquiry is a skill that will help them throughout their lives.
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Teachers may not need to teach children to ask questions, just develop that safe place where questions can be voiced, observe children to see the questions in their actions, and develop a culture that appreciates and records questions. An investigable question is rare in the preschool years but with questions so readily voiced, this is the time to begin making children aware of what they can and cannot answer through investigation. The objective of this month’s lesson is to introduce the idea of investigating a question and to investigate how much water is best for mung bean sprout growth through a fair test.
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