WPS Inquiry Kete 2021
This inquiry kete was adapted from the text
The power of Inquiry -teaching and learning with curiosity, creativity, and purpose in the contemporary classroom
By Kath Murdoch
Kete-basket
Inquiry
Inquiry is about what learners do, it involves lots of connected skills, dispositions and processes. Inquiry is fluid, challenging, messy and complex.
It is not a planned process that is planned and worked through in a linear way.
The biggest challenge for teachers is the way we scaffold our own planning and teaching without it being too planned.
We are sharing some ideas and Inquiry model to help guide our thinking and teaching practice beyond just providing activities but moving students thinking from the known to the unknown.
A very important part of Inquiry teaching is the teacher's own reflection of where the inquiry is going and where will our next steps be. We want to encourage wonder, patterns, seek new information, connect to prior knowledge and transfer this new learning/knowledge to other aspects of life.t
A structure for Inquiry
Provocations
Provocations provoke thoughts, discussions, questions, interests, experiments, creativity and ideas.
There are lots of different provocations:
Interesting photos, Pictures, books, nature, conceptual ideas, e.g.changing seasons, light etc, an object e.g. magnets or maps, Questions, e.g. what is gravity?, and event or a class trip.
Provocations need to be open ended and be able to be explored.
Then you can use the model of I see. I think, I wonder.
Teachers listen to and record responses to the provocation and you can find your inquiry focus.
Then you can move into what concepts underpin this inquiry, e.g. Planet Earth and Beyond, how does it fit with the NZC and the Local Curriculum, why is it worth working on and why does it matter?
Hoiho Inquiry
Earth’s system is a small part of a solar system universe.
On clear nights we can see star patterns in the sky
The Earth takes one year to orbit around the sun and spins
The Earth spins on its axis once every twenty four hours giving day to the parts that face the sun and night to the parts that face away from the sun.
Light travels in straight lines, can explore shadows to reinforce this concept.
The sun is the star closest to the Earth
Context for inquiry/Big Idea: Planet Earth and beyond
Key concepts:
Group/Year: Year 3/4
Teachers involved: Catherine/Trudi Hoiho
Note: teachers will add to this documentation throughout the process
Initial Provocations:
(Duplicate slide as necessary ie for each class or small group)
Pictures of: stars, full moon/half moon, solar system, moon close up with craters, comets
Bus stop activity:
What is the universe?
What is a star, the sun,a planet, a moon, a galaxy?
What is the difference between a star and a planet?
What do you know about the sun? (List two facts)
Why is the sun so bright compared to other things in the sky?
How big is the sun compared to the Earth?
What causes daytime and night time?
This will help us see where the misconceptions are
Initial student responses - Sun:
Why is the sun brighter than the stars?
Why is the sun so hot?
How is the sun so bright?
Why does the sun shine in the morning?
Why is it sparkling?
Why is the sun orange?
Why is the sun yellow and red?
Why is the sun a different colour when it rises up?
Why does the sun look like lava? Is it full of lava?
Why doesn’t the sun have craters like the moon?
Why is the sun big?
Why is the sun bigger than the stars?
How come it’s so far away but we can see it?
Is there life on other planets?
Why is the sun so distant?
Why is the sun close to the water?
Why does the sun have spiky rays?
How many rays does the sun have?
How come it looks muddy?
Why are the clouds on the horizon?
Why are there no clouds next to the sun?
Are the clouds higher than the sun?
Is the sun like a meteor?
Why does the sun follow us?
I know the sun is a star.
I know the sun is round.
I know the clouds cover the sun at night.
I know the sun is the biggest star.
I know the sun is bright in the morning.
Initial student responses - Sun:
Why is the sun brighter than the stars?
Why is the sun so hot?
How is the sun so bright?
Why does the sun shine in the morning?
Why is it sparkling?
Why is the sun orange?
Why is the sun yellow and red?
Why is the sun a different colour when it rises up?
Why does the sun look like lava? Is it full of lava?
Why doesn’t the sun have craters like the moon?
Why is the sun big?
Why is the sun bigger than the stars?
How come it’s so far away but we can see it?
Is there life on other planets?
Why is the sun so distant?
Why is the sun close to the water?
Why does the sun have spiky rays?
How many rays does the sun have?
How come it looks muddy?
Why are the clouds on the horizon?
Why are there no clouds next to the sun?
Are the clouds higher than the sun?
Is the sun like a meteor?
Why does the sun follow us?
I know the sun is a star.
I know the sun is round.
I know the clouds cover the sun at night.
I know the sun is the biggest star.
I know the sun is bright in the morning.
Initial student responses - Stars:
I know stars shine
I know there are millions of stars
I know the stars come out at night time
I know the stars are the sisters, they shine like diamonds in the sky
I know shooting stars can’t be seen in the morning
The shooting star looks like a fiery ball in the sky
How do the stars get up in the sky?
How is a star made? Where are they from?
Why do stars look spiky?
Why are the stars close to earth?
Why do stars come out at night?
Why don’t stars come up in the morning?
Why is the moon far away from the stars?
What makes the stars glow?
Where does the light come from?
Why are the stars bright like the moon?
Why is the galaxy dark but stars are bright?
Can you make shapes with the stars?
Why can’t I see the star shapes?
Do the stars shine to make a constellation?
Are the stars different colours in space?
Why do I see red stuff on the stars?
Why is the shooting star colourful?
Do people see shooting stars every night?
How many stars are there?
Is the shooting star a comet?
Where does the shooting star go?
Why is it so long? And so fast?
Why does the star travel?
Does the shooting star get lost in space?
I wonder if more comets are coming to earth?
Learning outcomes/understandings:
What do we hope students will understand by the end of this inquiry?
What is important and relevant for these students?
How might students demonstrate these understandings?
What criteria might guide our assessment?
Understandings
Possible evidence of understandings
Curriculum Connections: Key competencies/Values/Learning areas
(Taken from NZ Curriculum and WPS Local Curriculum)
What is a local curriculum?
The New Zealand Curriculum is a clear statement of what we deem important in education. It takes as its starting point a vision of our young people as lifelong learners who are confident and creative, connected, and actively involved and includes a clear set of principles on which to base curriculum decision making.
See schematic view of the New Zealand Curriculum document.
Your local curriculum is the way that you bring The New Zealand Curriculum to life at your school. It should:
as thinkers | as communicators | as researchers | as self-managers | as collaborators |
| | | | |
Key competencies and dispositions:
What do we want our learners to do/be? Possible outcomes
Initial student responses review
What did the initial provocations and student responses reveal about to us about students’ interests, knowledge and needs?
Shared Inquiry- the process
Finding out - investigating/gathering information
What experiences/resources/activities could be used to assist students to gather information in relation to our planned understandings?
What can we do to provoke interest/enthusiasm/curiosity/motivation?
Learning experiences:
Day time
Night time
Both day time and night time
Shared Inquiry
Sorting out - analysing/explaining/sharing information
How can we help students make sense of the information they have gathered?
How can we assist students to make conceptual connections and see relationships to and links with their own lives?
Shared Inquiry
Going further- Pathways and possibilities
(independent inquiry)
How can we cater for individual and small group pathways as they emerge during the process?
How can we encourage students to make choices about what and how they will learn?
Shared Inquiry
Reflection and Action
How can we empower students to act on what they have learned?
What structures can we put in place to encourage ongoing reflection?
What local/global actions might connect with this inquiry?
Shared Inquiry
Resources
Useful websites/links/clips/books/people/organisations/materials
(add to this throughout the inquiry)
Shared Inquiry
Assessment
How will we assess the students understandings, competencies and dispositions (slides 3 and 5)? (observations, student reflections, exemplars, snapshots of learning-photos, videos, art, dance, drama of learning journeyetc)
Can the students answer these questions?
What are you learning?
Why are you learning it?
How well are you doing?
Where do you need to go next?
Note:
Good teacher judgements are valid (based on what students have learned)
And reliable (other teachers would make the same judgement based on the same evidence).
Assessment
Shared Inquiry
Questions to consider:
Evaluation of the inquiry