Inquiry Circles

OVERVIEW

Today, teams will continue research work to find answers to the questions on the Inquiry Charts or to answer new questions that have been raised. 

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. It is time to get into our inquiry circles. (Have the Equipment Directors gather the Inquiry Chart for their team.) Today we will continue to look for answers to the questions on your Inquiry Charts. If you have all of your research questions already answered, you may look for more interesting facts and include them on your chart. 

1. Remember to work as a team, helping each other and using the strategies you have learned as you do your research. 

During Inquiry Circles (20 minutes) 

1. While working in your teams, you may refer to the “Monitoring Comprehension” anchor chart or any of the anchor charts posted to help guide your thinking. (Point to the posted anchor charts and remind students that they can use all the reading strategies taught, not just the one for that day.) 

1. The Lead Scientists will guide all research for the day by picking which questions will be answered, and the Data Scientists will record all source information and the answers to your research questions on the team Inquiry Chart. The Lab Directors and Equipment Directors must help find the answers to the questions online and in texts.  

1. I will help guide the inquiry circles, but I expect you to work as a scientific team to solve your problems together. (While teams are working together, walk around the room to facilitate as needed.) 

After Inquiry Circles (10 minutes)  

1. As we conclude our inquiry circles for today, each team will have a chance to share what they accomplished and learned. The Lab Director should lead the discussion with their inquiry circles about today’s results. For example, Did your team use “monitoring comprehension” or any other reading strategy today? What problems did your team encounter? How did your team resolve those problems? What did your team learn about its animal? 

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 learners can easily access them.) 

Guided Science Investigation

OVERVIEW             

In this activity, teams play a board game inspired by the amazing annual migration of monarch butterflies from the north and central United States to overwintering grounds in southern Mexico. They will learn about the factors that influence the success of a migration. 

GUIDING QUESTIONS 

Where do the monarch butterflies go each winter? Why do they go there? 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THE TEACHER 

Many animals are known to migrate. In North America, many bird species travel south in the fall to avoid cold winter temperatures and limited food supplies. They return to the north as the climate warms in spring and food becomes abundant again. It is an annual cycle that has been repeated for millennia.  

One of the world’s greatest north-south-north migrations is the annual trek of monarch butterflies from the north-central United States to southern Mexico. It is a journey as long as 3,000 miles. Unlike birds that make the round trip more than once, the monarch migration is a one-way trip for the butterflies. The monarchs that make it to the Mexican overwinter grounds will not return. They will lay eggs, but it is their offspring who will begin to make the return trip to complete the cycle. In fact, it takes several generations of butterflies to complete the trip all the way to northern United States or Canada. 

While playing the “Monarch Migration” game, some of your learners might wonder how such small insects are able to travel such great distances. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, monarchs can travel between 50 and 100 miles a day during their migration. The farthest recorded monarch butterfly flight in a single day is 265 miles! How did the butterfly accomplish that feat and how do we know that? The answer to the second question is simple. Butterfly scientists capture butterflies and press a small identifying tag to one of their wings. The tags do not harm the butterflies, and if they are caught again, the tags tell scientists how far the butterflies traveled to the new catching site and how long it took to get there. How the butterflies travel the distance is another matter.   

Because the monarch life cycle is short, more than one generation of monarchs is needed to travel from the northern United States and Canada to southern Mexico. Feeding on nectar, monarchs store up fat in their abdomens and draw in this fat for energy to make the trip. The monarchs feed along the way and may actually gain weight during the trip. Much is to be learned about how monarchs navigate to Mexico. A combination of seasonal sunlight, Earth’s magnetic field, or some other factors guide monarch generations to the same overwintering nesting grounds year after year.   

Monarchs flapping their wings can account for only part of the journey. Scientists think that the long daily flights south may also be accomplished by gliding on north winds that push the butterflies southward. Keeping upright and heading south in swirling winds takes maneuvering ability, such as wing flapping and changing the angles of the wings in relation to the butterfly’s body. 

Many factors influence the annual monarch migration, such as weather, food supply, and time of day. You can learn more about monarch butterfly migration on this YouTube video:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpffQtKN-gk  

PROCEDURE

SETUP 

• Prepare the “Monarch Migration” game sets by assembling enough game boards, game card sets, and playing pieces for the teams.  

• Print the game board, playing pieces, and playing cards on white cardstock paper (1 game set per team).  

• The game board consists of 4 panels. Trim the panels along the cut lines and arrange them edge to edge. Tape the panels front and back. The tape will allow you to fold the panels for storage later. Make one game board per team. (See the Migration Map for correct placement.) 

• Cut out the game card sets, shuffle the cards, and stack them; secure individual sets with rubber bands.  

• Cut out the playing pieces and place them into envelopes. 

SAFETY 

• Remind teams daily to be gentle with the growth habitats during handling to prevent disturbing the larvae, especially once the chrysalis forms Ideally, the growth habitats should be placed where teams can do daily observations  without moving them. 

• Please follow all district and school science laboratory safety procedures. 

• It is good laboratory practice to have teams wash hands before and after any laboratory activity 

DAILY OBSERVATIONS 

Give learners time to observe their organisms (whether they are in the larva, pupa, or adult stage), take measurements of the larvae (if applicable), and record their observations in their Butterfly Investigation Journals. Facilitate team discussions by asking questions, such as, What did you notice? What has changed since the last time you observed your organisms? 

PROCEDURE 

1. Introduce the concept of migration. Ask, What does it mean to migrate? (Move/travel from one place to another; animals have seasonal movements from one region to another.) 

1. Ask learners if they can think of any animals that migrate. (Geese, ducks, robins, caribou, salmon, whales, bats, monarch butterflies.). Ask if they know why the animals migrate. (Move to warmer places when winter comes, to find abundant food, to reproduce.) 

1. Talk about the monarch butterfly migration. Monarchs thrive during the summer in the United States. In the fall, they travel to southern Mexico to overwinter. For some monarchs, the journey is 3,000 miles long. However, each individual monarch does not make the complete trip. It is completed by successive generations of individual butterflies. When the monarchs arrive in Mexico, they feed and reproduce. Their offspring return in a stepwise migration of multiple generations to the U.S. in spring.  

1. Explain that monarchs 

• need warmer temperatures during winter 

• need flower nectar—most flowering plants are dormant during winter 

• can’t fly when it rains or is cold 

• are assisted by wind in their journey, if the wind is blowing in the right direction 

• don’t fly at night 

1. Tell learners that they will play a game to help them understand how these factors affect the monarchs’ journey south.
    

Explore 

1. Show learners all the game parts (game board, game card set, playing pieces) and explain what they represent.  

1. Explain that the game begins with each player selecting a colored game piece. The colored piece is placed on the game board on the circle of the same color at the north end of the path lines.  

1. Tell them that the circles represent trees where the butterflies can rest at night before continuing the journey the next day.  

1. Shuffle the game cards and place them upside down in a stack.  

1. Tell learners that the object of the game is for all monarchs to arrive at the overwintering place in Mexico. 

Game Rules 

You should actively model how the game works for the class before they begin play. The following instructions are for you. This is important because of the grade level—walking through the activity beforehand will allow all learners to better understand how to play. Either the teacher or a learner can do the walk through.  

1. Each player selects a colored game piece. The red player starts first and draws a game card from the stack. The card will tell the player what to do, and the red player moves the game piece accordingly. Used game cards should be placed in a separate stack. 

1. Play continues with the green player and then the purple, blue, and black, then back to red.  

1. Players move from north to south unless a game card provides a different instruction. If a card instructs the player to move to a different path, the player moves to the next nearest path. Red will move one path to the east. Pink can move one path to the west. The other players have the choice of moving east or west. 

1. When all of the game cards are used the first time, the cards should be shuffled to change their order and stacked upside down again so that play can continue. 

1. When one player’s butterfly reaches the winter home, that butterfly rests, feeds, and mates to reproduce. Play continues with the other butterflies until all reach the winter home. At that time, the game ends.
    

Explain 

1. When all teams have completed their games, hold a discussion. Ask, What have you learned about the monarch butterfly migration?  

1. Ask, How can such small creatures migrate up to 3,000 miles in just a couple of months? Accept responses.  

Evaluate 

1. Did learners communicate understanding about why monarchs or other organisms migrate? 

1. Were learners able to communicate factors that influence monarch migrations?  

1. Were new questions raised about migrations? 

1. Did learners use science language in communications, either written or oral? 

OPTIONAL 

A larger version of the game can be played in an open space. Invert small paper plates (color code them) and place them on the floor to represent spaces (resting trees) on paths leading from northern and central U.S. to the Mexico overwinter grounds. Use string and tape across the plates to connect them and designate the paths. Play the game, but, instead of game pieces, have learners play the part of the butterflies. As learners move from plate to plate, have them flap their wings (arms). 

Expanded Standards