Inquiry-based Lessons

1. Posing real questions2. Finding relevant resources3. Interpreting data4. Sharing findings

Step 1: Posing Real Questions

• What is a topic you are interested in?• What do you know already about this topic

and how do I know it? • What do you want to learn about this topic? • What do you need to know? • What might a possible answer be?

Examining Artifacts

• Wire Car and bicycle • Soda Can animals, relief landscape• Wire and Bead decorations • Soap Stone Carvings• Wooden Spear and Broom• Potato Printing, Patterned Shirts and Batiks• Drums, Gourd Rattles, Carved Wood Containers• Books: “Galimoto” and “Siyolo se Trui”

Step 2: Finding Relevant, Valid Resources

• What kinds of sources might help? • Where do you find them?• How do you know the information is valid? • What other information is there?

Questions Posed to Peace Corps Volunteer

• What materials are used to build houses where [you are living]?

• Do kids really make their own toys? Have you seen toys made from wire, like cars and trucks?

• Do kids go to school like we do? What are the schools like? Do the students really wear uniforms?

• What kinds of art do you see?

Sources of Information• Artifacts and Observation• Books: “Galimoto” and “Siyolo se Trui”• PowerPoint of Townships• PowerPoint of Slaton• Peace Corp Volunteer in the village of Mmametlhake • Web Sources:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html

• http://www.proteacher.com/090062.shtml Lessons on Africa

Step 3: Interpreting Data

• How is this information relevant? • How does it relate to what else we know? • What parts support the hypothesis and what

parts do not? • What new questions does it raise?

Answers from South Africa• It is a very sandy area. All roads except for the main tar road that goes

through the middle of the village is sand.

• A regular household chore is raking the sand - as soon as you get it complete someone walks through it or the wind blows it around. (As autumn sets in, we have had many West Texas type windy days.)

• Only wealthy people have grass lawns - upkeep is very expensive and time consuming.

• My house/most of the houses in the village are made of brick covered with plaster. The bricks are handmade and appear to be a mixture of cement and sand.

Answers from South Africa

• Some people have slated roofs, but most are roofs of corrugated tin -- it gets rather loud during a thunderstorm. The tin roofs also trap heat on hot days creating an oven effect. There are many houses in our area that are made entirely of corrugated tin. They are ridiculously hot during summer and ridiculously cold during winter.

• Some people set these shanties up as temporary housing until they can build a brick house--that may mean saving for years and depending on the contractor waiting for many months or years for the completion of the house. But many more people use the houses as permanent structures and will live in them majority of their lives due to poverty.

Answers from South Africa

• We use an outdoor tap for water. My host-family had installed an electric pump to bring up water from the well. Prior to that, they were using a hand pump. We are still waiting for the men to come and install the Jo-Jo. A jo-jo is a large plastic tank that stores water. When we have the tank installed, the pump will pump water into the Jo-Jo and the tap will deliver water from the Jo-Jo.

• I have a plastic barrel that I store water in for use in the house. It probably holds about 15 - 20 gallons of water. I have to refill it every 3 - 4 days, which is a process of filling up a 5 gallon bucket at the tap and carrying it into the house. Right now the water is very sandy. Safe to drink, but it needs to be filtered to get the sand out. I use a Britae filter for this. Every night I filter about 12 liters of water for use the next day. I have other buckets that I use to store the filtered water. When the Jo-Jo is completed, I will hopefully only have to filter water for drinking purposes.

Step 4: Sharing Findings

1. What was your experience in this inquiry?2. What were some of your key learnings?3. What challenges did you face?4. What questions do you still have?