Inquiry Investigations by Ms Aireen

Today Room 7 started their inquiry investigations of a science area they are interested in. This is related to the science topic we are focussing on this term - Discoveries and their Impact. 

Encouraging students to take ownership of this investigation was challenging to some groups as they were unsure of 'where and how to start'. This is where the role of the teacher is crucial. I have learnt in today's session that when students are finding it challenging to take ownership of their learning, a simple critical statement, question or suggested actions (e.g quick research of specific areas for learning development - what specific area of biology do you want to learn and research about?)  will help guide or give them a clear starting point. 

With key questions and scaffolding prompts provided, students were able to make a start on their projects through critical discussions - by agreeing on a topic to investigate and negotiating on key ideas/areas to investigate and thinking of critical questions to drive their investigations. 

Here are the topics students could base their investigations upon:

Before moving on to 'Asking Questions' students were encouraged to think about the outcome of their investigations.  I prompted each group with the following question - 

What do you hope to get out of this investigation?

Here are students responses to the questions above (this was done through brainstorming key ideas related to the science area of interest)

Lolo and Charlie-Ray have decided to investigate the role of a mechanic. 

Christopher and John have decided to investigate the invention of a computer based on security of computers. 

Kini, Jayden, Darwin and Sam are investigating  the science area of Archeology. 

Brandon, Cypress and William are investigating the science area of chemistry. 

Mckoy and Loni have decided to investigate Robotics.

Lauren, Tiere, Patosina and Mary are wanting to investigate the science area of biology  - endangered animals. 

 Deandra, Mele Devine, Lavinia and Harmony
are wanting to investigate the work of Leonardo Da Vinci

Now that my class have identified the key outcome of their investigations , they are now ready to ask critical questions that will drive their learning for this inquiry project.