When You Discover It Yourself, You Own It

A Brief Look at Inquiry LearningJan Parrott, Piute Mountain School

Carla Kliever, Hort Elementary Reading Lab

for California State University, Bakersfield

EDCI 520 Fall 2003

Hello, my name is Carla. I’m the reading specialist at a K-5 school. I am

Going to tell you how I used the inquiry model with 4th and 5th graders in a two lesson Suchman model format.

Who We Are and What We Will Tell You

Hi, I’m Jan and I teach multiple subjects to 6-8th graders.

I am going to demonstrate how I created a projectbased on the WebQuest model, for

my 6th grade science class.

But first we need to tell you what Inquiry Learning is and

the rationale behind it.

Inquiry Learning is a general term for any instructional method in which

• The learners begin with a problem or question that causes them to be curious, puzzled or unsettled.

• The teacher does not provide answers, but instead provides resources and guides the students through a discovery process.

• The process is short or long term and involves further questions, probing and research until the original problem or question is satisfactorily resolved.

The Rationale Behind Inquiry Learning:

• Knowing how to learn is more important than knowing all the answers.

• Good questions are more important than right answers.

• “The idea of inquiry learning is based on the premise that there is indeed a ‘wilderness of mystery’ to be explored in all fields and that every school subject represents a discipline of inquiry in which all students can participate” (Gunter, et al, p.118).

• The gratification of finding an answer yourself builds intrinsic motivation to learn more.

The Suchman Inquiry Model

Richard Suchman developed an instructional approach that is based on the natural curiosity of children. I used an adaptation of this approach with 4th and 5th graders in the Reading Lab at my school.

These are the Language Arts Content Standards (abbreviated) that I wanted to address in this lesson:

4th Grade Listening and Speaking:1.1 Ask thoughtful questions…1.2 Summarize major ideas and supporting evidence…1.6 Use traditional structures for conveying information - cause and effect, posing and answering questions...1.7 Emphasize points in ways that help the listener follow important ideas…5th Grade Listening and Speaking:1.1 Ask questions that seek information not already discussed.1.2 Make inferences or draw conclusions based on an oral report.1.5 Clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence..4th Grade Reading Comprehension1.2 Identify structural patterns found in informational text…2.2 Use appropriate strategies when reading for different purposes…2.3 Make and confirm predictions about text…2.5 Compare and contrast information on the same topic…5th Grade Reading Comprehension2.1 Understand how text features make information accessible.2.4 Draw inferences, conclusions or generalizations...

As I tell you the steps to Suchman’s approach, I will show how I used each

step in a lesson with my students.

Step 1: Select a Problem and Conduct Research.

The problem I selected was a two-part question:

What makes the noise when people snore? Why don’t people snore while they are awake?

I did research until I found the answers to these questions. I wrote out the answers in the form of a data sheet that I would have for easy reference during the lesson.

This is the data sheet I prepared:

The noise a person makes when he sleeps is made by the vibration of muscles and other tissues in the throat and mouth. The muscles and tissues vibrate because in sleep, they are completely relaxed, so they partially block the flow of air. The air hits the soft, loose tissues, causing them to vibrate and make sound. When a person is awake, the muscles are contracted (tightened and taking up less space). Air flows more freely when a person is awake.

In the Suchman Inquiry model, the teacher holds all the data,

and the students ask the teacher yes and no questions

until they have found their answer.

But in the Reading Lab, I wanted to add a “Reading to Find Out” component. So in addition to my data sheet, I found books and other resources that would provide clues for the students. To determine the books needed, I had to do Backward Mapping. I worked backwards from the final answer through the information that students would need, not just to find answers, but to know what next questions to ask. I decided the students would need information on• how vibration causes sound• what happens to muscles when we sleep• what muscles are in the mouth and throat.

These are the resources I collected to have available for the students:

Branley, Franklyn M., High Sounds, Low Sounds, 1967, pp. 6-7.

Robinson, Fay, Sound All Around, 1994, p. 9.

Settel, Joanne and Baggett, Nancy, Why Does My Nose Run? (And Other Questions Kids Ask About Their Bodies), 1985, pp. 39-40.

Showers, Paul, You Can’t Make a Move Without Your Muscles, 1982, pp. 21-23.

Silverstein, Dr. Alvin, The Respiratory System, 1994, pp. 23-23.

Silverstein, Dr. Alvin, The Muscular System, 1994, pp. 42-43, 64-65.

These are written at different levels

of difficulty.

Step 2: Introduce the Process and Present the Problem.

• On the first day, I taught the students how to play Twenty Questions, having them practice asking and answering yes and no questions.

• I told them that this was to get them ready for a lesson that would help them be better “questioners.”

On the second day, I told them:

1. “ In a few minutes, I will present a problem for you to solve. You will try to ask me yes and know questions to solve it.2. The rules during the questioning time are these: a. You may ask a question only when I call on you. b. You may talk with each other only after you have asked if you can have what is called a caucus. c. You have to ask only yes or no questions. d. One student may keep asking me questions as long as he or she keeps getting yes answers. e. At any point that you agree you are stuck, you may ask to use books that I have ready to help give you clues. “

Then I presented the problem about snoring.

This is still Step 2.

Step 3: Students Gather Data.This is the body of the inquiry process. The students took turns

asking me questions, trying hard to remember to form their sentences so that I could answer with a yes or no. The students

stopped to “caucus” three times. Finally they asked to use the books. Because of time limitations, I had pertinent pages

marked with slips of paper. A couple of times I guided them in the

right direction, without giving away the solution. This forced them to read, re-read, discuss,

and think before they spoke.

Step 4: Develop a Theory and Verify.

A group reaches this step when someone

thinks he or she has solved the problem. The student states the

solution in the form of a theory, which is written on the board. When one of my students said

the statement to the right, I said, “You may be getting close.

Look in the books to see what may wiggle, and what causes it

to move.”

I think the snoring sound comes from

something wigglingin the throat.

The group tries to prove or disprove the theory by asking further questions and doing further reading. If they can verify the theory, they move to Step 5.If they cannot, they go back to general questioning.

What would move? Not teeth.

What’s that thinghanging down?

The only thing thatwould make stuff

wiggle is breathing.

It says it’s the uvula.

I let the students talk freely at this time.

When I could tell the students were getting relevant information from the books, but were not yet able to connect everything into a final theory, I expedited things by putting a “template” on the board for them to complete with the information they had found. The noise made in snoring

comes from all the _________________ in the mouth and throat that _______________when _____ pushes on them during breathing. They do this when a person sleeps because they are ____________.When a person is awake, they do not _______________ because they are not _____________________.

This was an adaptation of Suchman’s model. I felt I needed to provide it, because these students were below-grade-level readers and, for the time being, theycould use additional scaffolding.

The noise made in snoring comes from all the _________________ in the mouth and throat that _______________when _____ pushes on them during breathing. They do this when a person sleeps because they are ____________.When a person is awake, they do not _______________ because they are not _____________________.

The noise made in snoring comes

from all the muscles and tissues in the

mouth and throat that vibratewhen air pushes on them during breathing. They do this when a person sleeps because they are

relaxed.When a person is awake, they do

not vibrate because they are

not relaxed.

This is the completed template.

Step 5: Explain the Theory and State the Rules Associated with It.

In this step, the students explain the theory and state the rules upon which it is based. The snoring theory is based on these rules:

• Something has to vibrate in order to make sound.

• The mouth and throat are full of muscles and other tissues.

• The muscles and tissues relax when a person sleeps.

• The air from breathing hits the relaxed muscles and tissues and makes them vibrate.

To do Step 5 with my Reading Lab students, I asked them to• Do a labeled drawing of how sound happens in snoring.• Write a list of every rule they learned.

A rule about sound:

Sound comes from something vibrating.A rule about the mouth and throat:

They are full of muscles and tissues.A rule about sleep:

All muscles relax when a person sleeps.

Here are some

samples.

Step 6: Analyze the Process.

• In this step the students discuss the inquiry

process itself and how well they participated.

• I started the discussion by asking them (in their

terms) how they could have expedited the

process.

How could you have gotten to the solution faster?

This important stepmakes students think about their thinking.

Step 7: Evaluate.

In this step, the teacher provides other opportunities for the students to show they are able to generalize to other situations the rules they just learned. For my students, I posed a new problem to see if they could generalize the rule about vibration and sound.

Here is the new problem that I posed(I also drew a diagram on the board):

One windy night, some windchimes outside my bedroom window were so noisythey kept me awake. I finally went out and

made them quiet. How did I do thiswithout taking the chimes down

or trying to stop the wind?

Answer: I put a sock over the clapper in the center, so that when it hit the metal pipes they would notvibrate.

Summary of my experiment with the Suchman Model: Just doing this brief lesson with my reading lab students showed me that in just two 45 minute sessions, one can go in many directions to encourage students to • think before they speak,• draw on prior knowledge, and on knowledge just gained, to form a new question,• make connections between separate facts to solve a problem, and• read with a purpose!This approach has become a vital tool in my “bag of tricks” to use with lower readers.

Now Jan will tell you about her experience with WebQuest!

See you on the next slide!

The WebQuest Inquiry ModelBernie Dodge created the

WebQuest model in 1995. “It is an inquiry-oriented activity in

which most or all of the

information used by the learner

is drawn from the Web”

(Dodge, 1997).

As I show you the WebQuest steps, I will explain how I created a WebQuest

for my 6th grade students.

Step 1: Select a Problem and Conduct Research.

• For my WebQuest I selected Science for 6th grade .

• I looked through the California State Standards and chose Earth Science: Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure.

• I wanted to cover these standards:• Focus on Earth Science

Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure

1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth's surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.

• b. Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core.

• c. Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.

• d. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.

• e. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.

• f. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.

• g. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.

I then used the internet to find resources for my students to use

to find the answers to the questions I posed to them. All resources helped to cover the

selected Standards.

The following slide contains just a few of the online

resources I found that were useful for my students. All of these resources are appropriate

for 6th grade students and were specifically selected for

their reading level.

The Dynamic Earth http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.htmlSouthern California Earthquake Center http://www.scec.org/ The California Geotour http://www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs/geotour/Eye Witness to Disasters in California http://www.notfrisco.com/calmem/earthquake/ Earthquake Hazard Program for Kids http://earthquake.usgs.gov/4kids/ Major Tectonic Plates of the World http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/plates.htmlTectonic Plates http://www.crystalinks.com/tectonicplates.html The Ring of Fire http://www.crystalinks.com/rof.htmlMaps of recent earthquake activity in California and Nevada http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm Up-to-the-minute Southern California Earthquake map- http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/scec/webquakes/ Cool Earthquake Facts http://earthquake.usgs.gov/4kids/ Are you ready for an earthquake http://earthquake.usgs.gov/4kids/ready.html Earthquake Safety Quiz http://www.firepals.org/FPQuizE.html Earthquake preparedness http://earthquake.usgs.gov/faq/prepare.html

Step 2: Present the Problem in the WebQuest Format.

I used the WebQuest template at : http://edweb.sdsu.eud/webquest/LessonTemplate

to create a Web Page that my students used to guide them through their WebQuest.

Following are the actual steps I took to create the template for the WebQuest my students used.

All WebQuests need to contain these Parts:

• Introduction• The Task• The Process• The evaluation• Conclusion• Credits or References

This is all part of Step 2: Present the problem in the WebQuest

format.

My Introduction:• Have you ever been standing somewhere and the

earth started to shake or rumble? Maybe you were awakened in the middle of the night by a big jolt? You then realize that it was an earthquake that startled you. Many students have experienced earthquakes, but most do not know what caused them. This is a web quest all about earthquakes. Join us on this journey to learn about the planet we live on and what causes it to shake and quake!

This is also part of Step 2, it introduces the WebQuest and grabs the students’

attention.

My Task:• You are scientists and belong to a group of geophysicists.

The state of California has come to your group and has asked you to create a guide to earthquakes of California. This guide will be given to all students who move from other states to the Golden State. This booklet must contain sections on:

• What causes earthquakes?• How often do they occur and why in California? • What needs to be done to prepare for earthquakes

and how can you stay safe during one? • You will be using the internet to find information on

earthquakes. You will then create a booklet using the word-processing or publishing computer program available to you.

This part gives the students clear directions on what the activity or

project will be.

My Process:• You will be working as a group of three. Each person in your group has a job to do. All

three members will put their information together to create a booklet. Each member will create one chapter of the booklet. Follow the steps below and get started on your project.

  1. Assign a chapter to each member.2. Use the links below and answer the questions assigned to you. Feel free to find your

own sites.3. You may paste the questions in to a word-processing program and answer them as you

find the answers.4. When you find graphics on line you may want to save them as well.5. When you have all the information you need, edit it into a word-processing or

publishing program and add graphics (do not forget to reference websites you took graphics from).

6. Be creative and do not forget that other students of all ages will be the ones who be using your earthquake booklets.

7. Put on your finishing touches such as a cover, title page, table of contents and bibliography.

8. With you group evaluate you booklet using the rubric below(under Evaluation). Edit and make changes as needed.

• Print out your booklet and turn it in.

This part of Step 2 gives the students the steps they need to follow to accomplish the task.

My Evaluation

I created a rubric to let my

students know how their project

will be evaluated.

My Conclusion: • I hope you enjoyed this Web Quest all about

earthquakes. You should now know what causes earthquakes, why there are so many in California and what can be done to protect your self from earthquake hazards. If you would like to share your completed booklets with other school districts in California or be the recipient of earthquake booklets please have your teacher e-mail me and I will arrange an exchange.

• Thank You,This summarizes what the students have learned and what they accomplished.

My Credits and References

I would like to thank my guides in CU and all of my fellow classmates online who help me create this first web quest. Your support and feedback is greatly appreciated.

This section of Step 2 lists sources of images, music or

text used in creating the WebQuest, Now you can

move to Step 3.

Step 3: Students Gather Data and Information to Solve the Problem.• Students use the pre-selected sites to gather the

information needed to complete the project.• Students work in cooperative learning groups to solve

the open-ended problem that has been set up on the Web Site by the teacher.

• This is a student student centered inquiry learning • Click on the earth to see the page I developed ( You must be connected to the Internet in order for the link to work.)

The teacher’s role in this is to answer technical questions and to guide students to

the tools needed to complete the project.

Step 4: Students Develop and Verify their Solution

• Students present their work to the rest of class.• Because the problem is open-ended, there is no

single solution and every solution is unique.• Students have had the opportunity to participate in

the process of inquiry, and to discover that many problems can be solved through this type of inquiry method.

I can now use the rubric to assess the

projects my students created.

Summary of the WebQuest Model

•WebQuests are a great way for teachers to incorporate technology into the classroom and there are many resources online for teachers to use to help them create and adapt WebQuests.

•Students must work in cooperative groups to solve real world problems.

•WebQuests give students the opportunity to use unlimited resources.

•WebQuests can be used and adapted at most grade levels and subjects.

Comparison of the two Models of Inquiry Learning

Suchman WebQuest

Short term

Can be done anytime, anywhere

Teacher presents the problem orally or on board or paper.

Students gather data by asking yes and no questions.

Teacher has the answers and other resources.

Students analyze effectiveness of their questions.

Student inquiry drives the learning.

Teacher-planned and initiated.

Teacher selects a problem and conducts preliminary research.

Long-term

Relies on access to Web and teacher skills.

Research has already been done and provided on online.

Teacher presents the process and problem on the WebQuest template.

Internet is used as a resource.

Students do all the work in cooperative groups.

Outcome is verification of solution through a final product.

Teacher evaluates final product.

Now that you have learned more about Inquiry learning, we have

just one thing to say,

JUST DO IT!