Inquiry Circles

OVERVIEW

Scientists work in teams when conducting investigations or carrying out routine tasks. Each day of this unit, learners will work in inquiry circle teams while taking on the role of scientists engaged in research. Specifically, they will speak like scientists (using new science language), read like scientists (using strategies to find information), and write like scientists (using journals to organize important information and observations).  

PROCEDURE

Each italicized statement below contains suggested wording the teacher may choose to use for the lesson; additional teacher actions and considerations are in parentheses.  

Before Inquiry Circles  

1. (Ask the Equipment Directors to gather the Inquiry Chart for their team). To begin, the Data Scientists will write the name of the animal their team will be researching in the space under “Organism name.” An organism is a living plant or animal that can carry out the actions needed to live, grow, and survive. 

1. Next, the Data Scientists will add the names of the team members. (Point to the space for names  on the Inquiry Chart.) 

1. Now, look at the first row on your chart, where it says, “What we know.” Take a few moments to discuss. The Lab Directors will lead the discussion, and the Data Scientists will write down what you already know about your animal under each question on the chart. Be sure everyone has a chance to share. (While teams are working, walk around the room and assist as needed.) 

During Inquiry Circles (20 minutes)  

1. Now, think about what else you want to know, or what questions that you have about the animal you are researching. The Lab Directors will lead the discussion. Be sure each team member has a chance to share their questions. (While teams are working, walk around to observe and assist learners as needed.) 

1. When your team has generated your own questions, pick two questions the team would like to research. The Data Scientists will write these questions in the boxes directly under “What else do you want to know?” 

1. Tomorrow you will begin to research your animals to find the answers to the questions on your team’s Inquiry Chart.  

After Inquiry Circles (10 minutes) 

1. As we conclude our inquiry circles for today, each team will have a chance to share the questions they created, as well as what they accomplished and learned. The Lab Directors will lead the team’s discussion about today’s results. For example, What did your team learn about its animal? Did your team encounter any problems? How did your team resolve those problems?  

1. (After you have allowed the teams to gather their thoughts, have the Data Scientists share with the class. Try to encourage teams to share a variety of things—you do not want just facts about animals, just reading strategies, or just cooperative learning strategies.)   

1. (When all teams have shared, thank them for their hard work, and point out any excellent behaviors that you observed. If you noticed any problems in the teams, take a moment to point them out and explain your expectations for all future inquiry circles. Collect all inquiry charts or have the Equipment Directors put them in their normal classroom place for ongoing work so students can easily access them.) 

Guided Science Investigation

In this activity, children will be introduced to the butterfly larvae, consider the larvae’s needs, and equip growth habitats to meet these needs. The habitats will allow close observation of the changes that will occur as the larvae go through their life cycles and become butterflies. The teacher should have the habits ready for each team.  

GUIDING QUESTIONS 

How do scientists study organisms? What resources need to be provided for live animals to be safe and well cared for while they are being studied? 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THE TEACHER 

When we think of scientists, our minds are often drawn to clean white laboratories filled with all kinds of glassware and machines. We usually don’t think of the other “laboratory” scientists work in: nature itself. Scientists observe nature’s many phenomena and collect data and form questions for further research. Outdoor observation and data collecting go hand in hand with research in the classic laboratory. Our study of painted lady butterflies demonstrates just how this partnership works. 

When painted lady butterflies lay their eggs, they do so on the underside of plant leaves that are good for larvae to eat after hatching. By careful observation, scientists can find where the eggs are laid and wait for a couple of days for hatching. However, after a few days, when they come back to see the larvae, they are gone. Were they eaten by predators? Did they just move someplace where the food is better? The scientist can’t tell. Eventually, the scientist will find larvae again but where did they come from?  Different parents? How old are they? The scientist can’t tell. 

This is why it’s important to have an indoor laboratory or enclosed space. To study the life cycle of the butterfly, scientist collects some eggs and places them inside some sort of growth chamber, or habitat, that simulates the natural environment and provides food and moisture. In this way, the scientist can study the complete life cycle of the butterfly and compare their observations with those made in the natural world. 

In this activity, each team will help complete its own growth habitat for the butterfly larvae. The butterfly larvae will come in small cylindrical containers that contain larva food; however, we suggest you use real plants for feeding the larvae. In this way, children can observe the incredible amount of food that caterpillars eat during this stage of their life cycle. A list of acceptable food plants can be found in the “Before the Unit Begins” document. Caterpillars are voracious eaters, so, if needed, you can supplement their diet with the pasty food that comes with the larvae. 

The benefit of larvae growth habitats is that they permit the larvae to move about a large area to facilitate easier observation and data collection by teams. Instructions for how to build the growth habitats out of cardboard boxes are included in the “Before the Unit Begins” document. Alternatively,  the teacher may choose to purchase a premade habitat. Either way works, as long as each team has its own habitat to observe.

PROCEDURE

Engage 

1. Ask the children where they think butterflies come from. Accept all responses and discuss their ideas.  

1. Remind them that they are now going to become scientists working in teams. Tell them that their science investigation will focus on the life cycle of butterflies. In other words, they will observe how the butterflies grow and change over time. Explain that, in their inquiry circles, they will be looking for information about the life cycles of the other animals they are investigating as well. 

1. Discuss why it might be difficult for scientists to study butterflies over time in nature (outside).
   Ask the children to share their ideas about how it might be easier to study butterflies. If no one else brings it up, suggest setting up an indoor habitat where the class could study the life cycle of butterflies. 

1. Tell the class that you have received butterfly larvae (very young forms of butterflies) to observe and study for their investigation. Pass around the container of larvae so the children can see what larvae look like.  

1. Ask, What do they look like to you? Accept responses. (Possible answers may include that they look like worms or caterpillars. Let them know they will learn more about these larvae in the coming lessons.) 

1. State that today learners will help complete the habitats, or homes, for the larvae to grow in. Ask them to think about what the larvae, which are animals, might need in the habitat.  

Explore 

1. Remind learners that all living things have basic needs. Ask them to think about what we (humans) need to stay alive. (Source of energy/food, air, water, and a place to live.) Ask, Do all animals have the same needs? Think about the animals you are investigating in your inquiry circles—what are their needs? 

1. Ask for their ideas about how we can make sure the larvae have what they need. 

1. Ask the Equipment Directors to pick up a bag of materials and a habitat from the designated materials area for their team. 

1. Using a habitat to model with, explain that the windows are for viewing and the small flap is for feeding the larvae.  

1. Next, describe the contents of the plastic bag (leaves, twigs, paper towel).  

1. Explain that the leaves will feed the larvae and that the larvae will also get their water from the leaves, so it will be important to add fresh leaves every day. 

1. Remind the children that the larvae eat a lot as they grow, and they will poop a lot! It is important to keep the habitats clean. The paper towel will be placed on the bottom of the box habitat; the teacher will change out the paper towel as needed.  

1. Finally, the twigs will provide the larvae a place for resting.  

1. At this point, the children will add the contents of their bags to the habitat as the teacher models how to add the paper towel to the bottom of the habitat and how to place the twigs and leaves.  

1. The habitats are now complete and ready for the larvae. The teacher will model how to gently add the larvae to the habitat using a spoon. Each team will add larvae (2–4) to their habitats. 

Explain 

1. Ask the children to compare the larvae habitats to the natural world where painted lady butterflies live. How are they the same? Different? 

1. Ask what they expect will happen to the larvae over the coming days. 

Elaborate 

1. Distribute the Butterfly Investigation Journals and explain that, just like real scientists, the children are going to write their daily observations in their journals. 

1. Tell the children that, beginning in the next class, they will observe the larvae every day for 10 days and record their observations in the Butterfly Investigation Journal. Let them know that they will work as a team to collect information as they observe the larvae but that each team member will write in their own journal.  

1. Instruct them to write their names on the front on the journal and then turn to the first page. 

1. Tell the children, Notice that the first thing on the page is the date. This is an important piece of information because it allows us to record exactly when the changes we see occur.  

1. Next, read through each box in the journal, explaining what the questions are asking and what the children need to record. Be sure to point out that they will include a drawing in the first box. 

1. Add that any new questions they have can be written in the last box (“What does this make you wonder?”) 

1. Ask if there are any questions. Remind the children that they are working as a team and will discuss what they should write in their journals together (children will write in their own Butterfly Investigation Journal). 

1. Collect the journals and remind the children that they will begin recording information in the next class. 

Evaluate  

1. Did learners communicate a reasonable understanding of the basic needs of animals in general or butterfly larvae specifically?  

1. Did learners use new science language in their responses?  

1. Did learners work collaboratively within their teams?  

Expanded Standards