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Imagine It

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Research is focused on problems or questions, not topics. ... conventional, topic-centered research for. the purpose of writing paper. Inquiry ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Imagine It


1
Imagine It!
  • Inquiry

2
Why Use the Inquiry Process?
  • Instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and
  • listening is often fragmented and lacking in a
  • coherent plan that allows students to work with
  • knowledge.
  • For example Instruction often centers on themes,
    which are little
  • more than topics covered in a superficial manner.
    The information
  • may not necessarily relate to the information
    they find in reading
  • the text book or selection. Writing assignments
    focus on simple
  • read-and-report activities rather than on ways to
    help students
  • gain information they can use over time to
    construct an
  • understanding of the world.

3
Inquiry
  • The SRA Imagine It! Program has two types of
    units
  • Units based on universal topics of interest such
    as friendship, kindness, and courage.
  • Content units that provide students with a solid
    base of information upon which they can begin
    their own Inquiry and research.

4
Inquiry
  • Based upon common areas of interest, students
    conduct
  • Inquiry in small collaborative groups and then
    present their
  • findings to their classmates. In this way,
    students
  • recognize the importance of sharing knowledge and
    gain
  • much more knowledge of the unit theme than they
    would
  • have simply by reading the selections in the
    unit.

5
  • This ability to read to find out what is needed
    or what one wants to learn is a hallmark of
    scholarship.

6
Inquiry
  • SRA Imagine It! Helps students conduct research
    within their language arts instruction. It
    teaches them how to research and explore any area
    in which they are interested or have something
    they need to know. This is an aspect of education
    that is often neglected until high school or even
    college.

7
Inquiry
  • In SRA Imagine It!, students model the behavior
    of expert learners and researchers.
    Opportunities for students, individually and in
    groups, to explore, to write about, and to
    discuss key concepts in a specific area lead to
    improved critical thinking and reading skills.
    Students become independent, intentional,
    self-directed learners.
  • Rigor and Relevance are automatically addressed.

8
Inquiry
  • The idea of research is introduced as early as
    kindergarten.
  • Procedures for collaborative research formalized
    further in first grade.
  • Beginning in second grade and continuing through
    sixth grade, students are led, working
    individually or collaboratively, to pursue
    problems that interest them in the same manner
    that an adult would conduct research.

9
InquiryHow Does the Inquiry Process Differ from
Conventional Research Instruction?
  • In conventional elementary school classrooms,
    research means collect information and prepare a
    paper. They conduct their research by
    following a procedure that usually involves a
    series of steps such as
  • Select a topic
  • Narrow the topic
  • Collect materials
  • Take notes
  • Organize notes
  • Make an outline
  • Write the paper
  • Present the paper

10
Inquiry
  • Although this procedure may result in the
  • preparation of an adequate paper, it does
  • not constitute research in any meaningful or
  • useful sense.

11
Inquiry
  • Ample evidence exists that elementary school
    students can do descriptive, historical, and
    experimental research that seeks answers to real
    questions or solutions to real problems.
  • To do this kind of work, however, students need a
    better research procedure than the one provided
    by the traditional approach.

12
Inquiry
  • The inquiry process is based on the assumption
    that students can do research that will result in
    the construction of deeper knowledge and the
    appreciation that research is a never-ending,
    recursive cycle. Like real-world researchers
    students can
  • Produce their questions
  • Develop ideas or conjectures about why something
    is the way it is
  • Pursue the answers
  • The answers, as for real researchers, may never
    come. What will come are more questions.

13
Inquiry
  • Conjecture- To form an opinion or judgment based
    on
  • incomplete or inconclusive information.
  • Why is the term conjecture used? It seems to be
    an
  • unnecessarily difficult term to use with young
    students.
  • The term conjecture is used because
  • It is the most precise term in context of the
    inquiry procedure.
  • It has a respectable place in the philosophy of
    science.
  • It is a good idea to use technical vocabulary
    with students when certain terms will be used
    frequently and when everyday language does not
    offer entirely adequate substitutes. The point
    to emphasize is that the goal of the research is
    to improve conjectures. For that to work, there
    must be a conjecture with which to start.

14
Inquiry
  • To make the research productive, the following
  • important principles are embodied in this
  • approach
  • Research is focused on problems or questions, not
    topics.
  • Questions and wonderings are the foundation for
    Inquiry and research.
  • Conjectures-opinions based on less-than-complete
    evidence of proof- are derived from questions and
    guide the research the research does not simply
    produce conjectures.

15
Inquiry
  • New information and data are gathered to test and
    revise conjectures.
  • Discussion, ongoing feedback, and constructive
    criticism are important in all phases of the
    research but especially in the revision of
    problems and conjectures.
  • The cycle of true research is essentially
    endless, although presentations of findings are
    made from time to time new findings give rise to
    new problems and conjectures and thus to new
    cycles of research.
  • Using the inquiry process is an effective
    strategy to teach for understanding.

16
What Does the Inquiry Process Look Likein the
Classroom?
  • In the classroom, the inquiry process takes
  • students through a recursive cycle that
  • involves many steps. Students may go
  • through these steps several times before
  • they come to the end of their research.

17
Inquiry Steps of the Recursive Cycle of Research
  • Decide on a problem or question to research.
  • Formulate an idea or a conjecture about the
    problem.
  • Identify needs, and make plans.
  • Reevaluate the problem or question based on what
    has been learned.
  • Revise the idea or conjecture.
  • Make presentations.
  • Identify new needs, and make new plans.
  • The Scientific Method used for the Science Fair
    is a perfect example of the Inquiry Process.

18
InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research.
  • Students should identify a question or
  • problem that they truly wonder about or
  • wish to understand and then form research
  • groups with other students who have the
  • same interests.
  • My problem or question is ___________.

19
InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research.
  • When the procedure is first introduced,
  • students may require some help in
  • formulating problems or questions,
  • especially if they are accustomed to doing
  • conventional, topic-centered research for
  • the purpose of writing paper.

20
InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research.
  • In the inquiry process, students begin generating
  • questions as they discuss ideas related to a
  • common theme. Discussion is key as students
  • think about what they know and what they are
  • interested in learning. In contrast, if students
  • consult reference sources like the encyclopedia
  • before discussion, they are likely to generate
  • questions the reference source already has
  • answered or problems in which they have no real
  • interest.

21
InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research
  • Occasionally students may select problems that
    are too hard for them.
  • When this occurs, teachers should remind students
    that the criterion of success is not finding
    answers but making progress. It takes patience
    and effort to shift the criterion of success from
    answers to progress, but it is an important move
    toward building a community of scholars.

22
The Art of the Question--A question can either
shut down or open up a conversation.
23
Have a rich discussion about the elements of good
questions.
24
(No Transcript)
25
InquiryStep 2 Formulate an idea or a
conjecture about the problem.
  • Students should think about and discuss
  • with classmates possible answers to their
  • research problems or questions and meet with
  • their research groups to discuss and record their
  • ideas or conjectures.
  • My idea/conjecture/theory about this question or
    problem is _______________________.

26
InquiryStep 3 Identify needs and make plans.
  • Students should identify knowledge needs related
    to their
  • conjectures and meet with their research groups
    to
  • determine which resources to consult and who will
    perform
  • individual job assignments. Students also should
    meet
  • periodically with the teacher, to present
    preliminary
  • findings and make revisions to their problems and
  • conjectures on the basis of these findings.
  • I need to find out _____________.
  • To do this, I will need these resources___________
    .
  • My role in the group is _________________.
  • This is what I have learned so far_____________.
  • This is what happened when we presented our
    findings______________________.

27
InquiryStep 3 Identify needs and make plans.
  • Identifying needs and making plans can proceed
  • in two ways, depending on the students. Younger
  • students might be encouraged to discuss
  • questions that are related to the problem to be
  • researched. Discussion can keep students from
  • focusing on one key word and alert them to a
  • wider range of relevant information. Older
  • students, however, should begin by asking
  • themselves what they need to know.

28
InquiryStep 4 Reevaluate the problem or
question based on what has been learned.
  • At this step, students gather new information,
  • guided by their research problem, conjectures,
  • information needs, and plans. Depending on the
  • kind of research a student is conducting, she or
  • he may obtain new information from all kinds of
  • sources print materials, videos, electronically
  • stored data, experiments, observations,
  • interviews, and consultations with experts.
  • My revised problem or question is_____________.

29
InquiryStep 4 Reevaluate the problem or
question based on what has been learned.
  • Students should use the new information they
    obtain to change their conjectures or reformulate
    their problems. When students report their
    findings, they must be prepared to respond to the
    questions
  • What does this tell us that we didnt know?
  • How does this information help us?
  • Such questions should not be thought as negative
    criticisms but as legitimate queries.

30
InquiryStep 5 Revise the idea or conjecture.
  • In research, unlike most other activities,
    everything is open to revision problems,
    conjectures, plans, methods, and even previously
    accepted facts. Accordingly, the revision step
    of the cycle has no specific agenda. Revision
    should not be impulsive, students should have a
    reason for making changes. New facts, new
    insights, or new inferences may be a basis for
    revisions of various kinds. Because there is no
    specific agenda, it is difficult to provide much
    structure for the revision step. The important
    thing is that individual students, research
    teams, and the entire class have opportunities to
    meet and consider possible revision. This is
    where most of the real thinking and knowledge
    building will occur. Knowledge does not come
    simply from the acquisition of new information.
    It comes from reconsidering current beliefs and
    conjectures in the light of new information and
    trying to make sense of them in combination.
  • My new conjecture about this problem is_________.

31
InquiryStep 5 Revise the idea or conjecture.
  • Discussions need to be focused in ways
  • that will promote revision. If research has
  • been going well, students will be eager for a
  • chance to report what they have found and
  • not so eager to dwell on what others have
  • found.

32
InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.
  • In conventional research projects,
  • everything is aimed toward the final
  • product-usually a written or oral report, but
  • sometimes a presentation in some other
  • medium such as videotape, a
  • demonstration, a model, or a poster.

33
InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.
  • These presentations all contribute to revision.
  • They produce feedback and criticism from peers
  • that may change the research or modify
  • conjectures. They are occasions for the
  • presenters to think through what they have done
  • and what the implications are.

34
InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.
  • In the inquiry cycle, presentations are an
    offshoot
  • of the revision step. Because revision steps are
  • expected to occur frequently, ample opportunities
  • arise for presentations of all kinds. The
    following
  • is a list of some useful, informal presentation
  • formats. Each is intended to take less than ten
  • minutes, including a few minutes of discussion.

35
InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.
  • Mini-debate- Group members who have opposing
    conjectures present them, along with supporting
    evidence and arguments, for class reactions.
  • Video/computer highlights- A research group
    presents and comments on short (one minute or
    less) segments of a videotape or Web site display
    that group members think will be of value to
    other research groups.
  • Book or article highlights- These are similar to
    video highlights, with the presenters reading
    excerpts and offering comments.

36
InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.
  • Preliminary findings- A group uses graphs and
    other visuals to help communicate its findings
    more quickly.
  • Problem presentations- Groups that are not able
    to find relevant material or that have found
    something puzzling or inconsistent present their
    present their problem for suggestions.
  • Power Point Presentations- Groups can create a
    Power Point presentation that includes relevant
    pictures, charts, and graphs.

37
InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.
  • Poster session- When not enough class time is
    available for all students who want to present
    their research, teachers can allot a certain
    amount of wall space to each presenter to put up
    whatever kind of display he or she wants-graphs
    and pictures with captions, summaries in large
    print, and so on. At the start of a poster
    session, each presenter may have one minute to
    announce the intent of the poster. Then the
    class is free to study the posters, with the
    presenters standing by to talk about them. This
    kind of presentation is common at scientific and
    research conferences.

38
InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.
  • These brief presentations are not intended to
  • take the place of a final product (although they
  • may). They should, however, take some of the
  • emphasis off the final product and give
  • students a better sense of research as a
  • continuous process, with presentations as part
  • of that process.

39
InquiryStep 7 Identify new needs and make new
plans.
  • As stated earlier, the inquiry process views
    research as a recursive, never-ending process.
    Students should be encouraged to pursue problems
    or questions that interest them long after a unit
    of study is over.
  • Teachers may even let an inquiry unit continue
    for months if it is producing good learning.
    Some of the most successful inquiry research
    projects have lasted for almost an entire school
    year and engaged students so deeply that by the
    end, they have things to tell the experts!

40
InquiryStep 7 Identify new needs and make new
plans.
  • Based on what I found out, I still need to
    know_________.
  • To do this, I will need these resources________.
  • This is what I have learned______________.
  • This is what happened when we presented our new
    findings_______________________.

41
In a Nutshell!
42
Inquiry
Conclusion
  • Learning to read empowers students. Learning to
    learn enables them to use that power
    intelligently to direct their learning process
    and take charge of their lives.
  • Students must learn how to identify problems, ask
    different kinds of questions, confirm
    understandings, predict outcomes, interpret text,
    wonder about meaning, and compare ideas. In
    brief, they must have opportunities to engage in
    the kind of inquiry that prepare them for
    real-world thinking, decision making, and problem
    solving.
  • Inquiry is a new concept for many students and it
    is done over an extended period of time.
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