Using Inquiry to Think Like a Scientist Mary Jeanne Dicker Todd Hilgendorff Farnsworth Middle School Guilderland, NY.

Using Inquiry to Think

Like a Scientist

Mary Jeanne DickerTodd Hilgendorff

Farnsworth Middle SchoolGuilderland, NY

Science Rules!

• “There is nothing I find more exciting than picking a question that I don’t know the answer to and embarking on a quest for answers. It’s deeply satisfying to climb into the boat, like Lewis and Clark, and head west, saying we don’t know what we’ll find when we get there, but we’ll be sure to let you know when we get back.”

» Jim Collins

Unified Research Model

Research StepsModels Real-world

ResearchSecondary vs.

Primary

Unified Research Model

1. Choose a topic2. Develop questions3. Define audience4. Find and evaluate resources5. Gather information6. Create a product7. Present the product8. Evaluate

Unified Research Model

• Stresses how research is done in the real world.

• Often, what students in the middle grades are doing, is secondary research. In the adult world, this is called the review of the literature.

Inquiry (Harada, Yoshina)

• Active, engaged learners• Student-oriented. Teacher as facilitator• Flexible• Collaborative.• Standards-driven• Assessment is ongoing• Expands the resources beyond school• Technology – tool for learning

Scientific Method• Problem or Question• Develop Hypothesis • Set Up Research

– Methods- what you’re going to do

– Variables– Controls

• Conduct Research– Observations– Collect Data

• Analyze Data• Conclusions• Future Research

– Create More Questions

• Mr. H’s Hair!

What hair product creates the best and What hair product creates the best and longest lasting fohawk for Mr. H?longest lasting fohawk for Mr. H?

Our Own Class Research

Choosing a Topic

• List things you are interested in; This can be anything- cars, computers, dogs, video games, make-up, etc.

• Write a question for 3 of your topics. Your question has to be something you can collect data on. For example, for my topic running, my question would be “Will listening to music affect the distance I can run?”.

Questioning Process

Questions need to: be testable not be answered with a yes/no not be answered by looking on the internet doable in a school setting

Examples of Student Questions….

• What type of gum creates the most saliva?

• How does music affect your mood?

• How many licks DOES it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

• Are handwriting analyses accurate?

• Which brand of soda goes flat the fastest?

• Does better posture mean more endurance?

• Which type of camera takes the most appealing picture?

Review of the Literature

• What has already been written about your topic?

• What do you already know?

• What information should you search for?

Watch Out!! What to NOT include in

Literature Reviews

•Opinion•“I”•Non-scientific information•Project plan•Students want to talk about what

they already know

Gathering Information

• Review of databases

• Develop keywords from a scientific, rather than a popular, point of view.

• Wiki pathfinder

Wiki Pathfinder

Procedure/Materials/Hypothesis

Procedure: write a step-by-step (numbered!) set of instructions that explains how you are going to carry out your experiment. Be clear and give only 1 direction per step.

Materials: create a list of what you need to do your experiment

Hypothesis: Write an “If…then…because…” statement that explains what you think will happen in your experiment

**This is a time when we start peer conferencing and teacher conferencing**

Analysis and ConclusionANALYSIS

In paragraph form, write out your data. DO NOT draw conclusions, just state your findings. For example: “The plant in the closet grew 0cm for the first 7 days, 2 cm the 8th day, and 1 cm the 9th day”.

CONCLUSIONUse paragraphs (NOT numbered sentences) to answer the following key ideas. More information may be included but the following must be included. – What did you find out?– Did your findings agree or disagree with your hypothesis? Explain.– Did anything not work and/or did anything interesting happen? Explain.– If you repeated your experiment, what would you do differently and why?– Is there any further research that you think could be done or that you

would like to do based on what you found out? Explain.

**Peer conferencing and teacher conferencing continues**

Differentiation

This project allows for differentiation just by its nature. In choosing their own topics and designing their own research, students work at their own level. We have had students build and test computers, build and test catapaults, and we have had students test the stickiness of bubble gum and test which shoes have the most traction when running.

What do we like about this project?

• It’s based on student interest

• Student’s take ownership in the process

• It’s year long

• It isn’t “your parent’s” science project!

Contact Information

Todd [email protected]

Mary Jeanne [email protected]