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>>teacher: The standard that we were addressing
was the Next Generation Science Standard
that focused on chemical reactions. The performance expectation was that they
would develop a working race car that was powered by a chemical reaction. So
they had to understand what the reactants were, what the products are, and then
how the products were able to then be harnessed to create the propulsion that would
need to power the race car. To develop this lesson I used the 5-E model that's
advocated by Roger Biybee by having the students be active participants in the
learning process they take more ownership of it.
So rather than just being passive listeners, part of the actual learning is
where the students actually take stock of what they're doing and help each other out.
My role is not to tell them how to solve the problem.
I want them to encounter the barriers and obstacles for themselves.
>>student: This turns too much to the right so I don't know what to do.
>>teacher: The Common Core along with
the next generation science standards, um promotes a shift towards more
collaborative learning, and by doing more enquiry lessons we give students an
opportunity to have a safe environment in which they can collaborate with their
peers to help each other solve problems.
>>student: And we put it onto the string and as soon as we put the vinegar in
we just drop it and shake it and let it go. So maybe it would work like that?
>>teacher: On the first day, that was our engage activity. I wanted to have an activity
that would promote curiosity,
so we did a simple reaction where they added vinegar and baking soda into a
beaker. And then at the tables they would have an open discussion of what
observations they're making as to what's going on in this reaction. And from there
I have a series of questions that then push them a little further. So the
reaction occurred in an open system, what would happen if the reaction occurred in
a closed system? So the idea is that while they're working in small groups
there's a lot of peer to peer discussion.
>>student 1: It decreases the exit. It's all going to want to go out.
>>student 2: It's going to rise. >>student 1: Yeah, it all wants to be
released at the same time and there's a smaller exit way so
it's like let's say that there's a fire and there's only that one door right there.
Everyone's going to rush over to it and it's going to create a huge blockage.
But if, let's say the whole wall were gone, everyone can leave all at the same time.
After we have that discussion, then I show them a video
as a motivation for them to see what was done
in the past and the goal is for them to always improve upon what was already done.
That was the first day. The second day is were they were asked to design and
build their race cars, and during that process a lot of students encountered
issues. So what I did was before they started, I would tell the class, okay, I'm
going to let you work for about 20 to 30 minutes. After about 20 or 30 minutes
I'm going to call time and I'm going to ask that everyone focus on me. And then
we're going to have an open discussion. I want to know what were some barriers and
obstacles that were encountered during the design process.
What do you do initially that wouldn't allow it to spin and then how did you fix that?
>>student: We just attached the straws to the bottom of the car which obviously
wasn't letting it spin.
>>teacher: And if a group brought up an issue and they weren't able to solve it, maybe
some other group had already came up with the solution to that problem.
Does that makes sense?
No?
Okay, let's explain that again. Okay, so he takes a small straw takes it through
bigger straw and then that allows the wheels to spin.
The role of the teacher during an inquiry lesson is to act as a facilitator.
So my job is to walk around and make sure that students are engaged and to
provide guidance when needed.
It's really hard as a teacher to just sit there and let your students fail
over and over and over again as they're designing this. And you can see the
frustration in their eyes,
but that's part of the learning process is to be resilient, and to persevere, and
to work your own way through that problem.
I know as I look at some of the designs that they're not going to work.
Some are just a little too complicated, uh
they didn't factor in how long it would take for the reaction to occur, things of
that nature. But I don't want to give them that answer. They have to actually
see it fail and then they can then find out their own solution. And if they're
not able to then during our class discussion maybe other groups have
already found the solution to that problem. I was really pleased with the
level of engagement that the students had. I really didn't notice too many
groups that weren't actively involved. As I walked around I noticed there was a lot
of powerful discussion going on between partners. One partner would share an idea
and the other partner would
either give their own opinion or agree with it and then from there they
would be able to compromise on the design.
So there was a lot of powerful discussion that occurred.
Today was essentially the assessment piece. Um, they-their task was to make a racecar
that traveled six meters.
>>student voices: Ah, ah, oh, YEAH!
[student laughter]
>>student: Slow and steady wins the race.
>>student: Go, go, go, go >>student 2: Go right. What are you doing!
>>student: Get there! Get there! >>student 2: Ahhhhhhhhh.
>>teacher: Oh! Look at that one!
>>student: Go...go little one, go. Go little one...Yeah!
>>teacher: Then after today's official trial runs, then they were given another
opportunity to modify and fix their car. And now we're going to extend that and
now they're going to be asked to make it go 10 meters.
>>student: Jesus take the wheel. >>student 2: That's it, that's it, that's it.
[student screams]
>>student: That's good.
>>student: Yewwwww.
>>teacher: My advice to the chemistry teachers is to not be afraid
of doing these types of inquiry lessons.
I understand that throughout the year we have the pressure to cover a lot of
content. However, students learn more when they have hands-on activity that allows
them to apply real world applications to the content. It gives them the context
with which to learn from. That is way more powerful than learning from a
traditional textbook.
So my advice is let your kids explore, let them get their hands dirty,
and let them fail because failure is part of the learning process.
Um, in terms of seeing how their design doesn't work,
it then forces them to find the solution.
A lot of teachers are afraid of the chaos that ensues
during an inquiry lesson, but you don't want to do an inquiry lesson right at
the beginning of the year.
You want to do an inquiry lesson after you've established some classroom
management, you have rapport with your students,
there's a safe culture that's already been developed where people respect each
other and each other's opinions and there's more discourse and dialogue that occurs.
So once you've established that culture, then let your students explore and then
you'll see that there's a lot of powerful learning going on.
it would have actually gone really far but the hole got plugged up.
>>student: How does that happen? >>teacher: How does it happen? Well...
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