Taking students & learning outside!

J McClellend, PhD

Tom Meagher, PhDAugust 5, 2015

Wonder Wanders: Practice in observation and questioning

Count off by 8s’ (or the amount needed to make teams of 3) Form a team with three people ( 3maximum) Each team will record 30 observations followed by

writing a “wonder” (or question) for each observation. Make a T-Chart in your notebook with titles:

◦ I Notice… & I Wonder… The team will have 25-30 minutes to record all their

observations and “wonders”. Each team will choose a domain to observe:

◦ Shadows◦ Signs (evidence) of animals◦ Angles◦ Leaves◦ Grass/lawn plants◦ Wind◦ Colors

Finding investigable questions

Choose three questions that the team agrees would be an interesting investigation.

Ask yourself, “ How can we answer this question with measurements and collecting data?”

As a team decide on a course of action to explore, collect data and answer your question.

It’s up to the team how data will be measured, recorded and analyzed.

What did your team learn?

Once data is collected it must be:◦Organized into a readable format◦Analyzed for any patterns that can

be observed◦Results should be presented in an

interesting form and interpreted. (What was the answer to your team’s question?)

Present findings to the whole group in an interesting and

easy to follow format: As a poster or e-presentation.

Some helpful online sites for data analysis.Word/text analysis

◦ Wordle◦Wordcounter◦Tapor

Data analysis◦Plotly◦Chartgo (Create charts & graphs)◦Picktochart for Informatics (Creating

informational charts, diagrams & graphs)

What STEM learning

looks like

TEM

Find answers with data

How can you use this lesson with your students?

Take a minute or two and write about where this could fit within your teaching.

Talk to your team and see what they think and jot down some of their ideas.

Share out to the large group how this can be adapted to all content areas within the curriculum.

Walking students through the process. Present information to be learned and demonstrate how

this can be linked to other knowledge. Motivate students interest in the subject matter.

Encourage concrete (proximate) questions: Who, What, Where, When, How. Refrain from WHY questions. These are difficult to support with data and usually outside the an appropriate time for class.

Students develop hypotheses based on their own knowledge

Guide students to develop research methods or experiments to can collect measureable data.

Take time to organize data results and collaborate on interpreting the results.

Publish their study, through papers, posters, PowerPoints, webpages, etc. Allow students to be the experts on their research and teach the class. Hold the other students responsible for learning from their peers.

How to shift lessons to Inquiry?Previously, “canned” curriculum would have:

◦ “The purpose of this lab is…” or “The objective of this lesson is…” or “The goal…”

Change these to questions or ask students to change these to questions.

Look at the lessons or units coming up and explore how you can shift to be more open ended, student directed and collaborative.

Ask yourself how can I have students using higher order thinking and evaluating information instead of simply memorizing, word searching, matching or filling in the blank.

Provide experience first followed by language acquisition and end with information interpretation and construction.