Science Practices and Inquiry Process Skills - Chapter 3

This chapter was all about inquiry which gave insight to what we will be focusing one of our two lessons on at Bishop Dunn. I think the inquiry model of teaching feels very natural with how children learn. I know when I was in elementary school the lessons I took the most away from had a really engaging introduction and self exploration. This video gives a short view of my experience as a student who more often than not was bored and a look into the kind of teacher I would like to be, engaging, involving, and respectful. 

The section on types of questions echoes what I wrote about Chapter 1 and encouraging the natural act of kids asking questions. However, in Chapter 3 I like how it breaks down into 4 main types of questions; information seeking questions, wonderment questions, "how does it work" questions, and how to solve a problem questions. While I think older students will be able to decipher the difference between these questions I think as teacher it is important to keep these sub categories in mind while designing lessons and guiding questions. 

I found the following video which I felt was helpful and could be used with students to help describe the inquiry process and how it differs from other instruction.I especially like the analogy at the beginning with Harry Potter because it was engaging and makes a great connection with material for a younger audience.

I also think the skills used in inquiry lessons lends itself to practice of concepts from other subject matters and important life skills. Observing is a skill I think children from a young age should be encouraged to take practice in. Naturally I think children are observant and inquisitive but if fostered  this skill can carry on into school years and later into life. Using space/time relationships is a great way to talk about time both in the scale of immediate time, using a clock/timer and on a larger scale of years, decades, centuries, etc. Using numbers and collecting data is a great way to tie in math concepts that could parallel the science lesson. Although I don't have experience with this yet I could imagine that it might not be the best idea to use a newly learned math concept heavily in a lesson to avoid frustration. Questioning is an important part of the scientific method but also in life I think its good to always be questioning things and not taking ever bit of information as a fact without doing some research. Classifying is another skill that can be used across different subjects and that can be taught from a young age. Measuring again is can tie back to a math lesson and is a skill that is used out in the real world. Lastly communicating is a skill I think should be stressed more in school. One of my most valuable classes in my undergraduate was a communications class I took on public presentations. Being able to organize and present material is a crucial skill not only in the classroom but also in many careers.