Inquiry Circles

OVERVIEW

Today learners will explore websites to find information and answers to their questions using the strategies they learned during the mini-lesson. The teacher should encourage team members to help each other with navigating the websites, and provide support as needed.

PROCEDURE

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

Before Inquiry Circles

1. You will be with the same team as yesterday, but we will rotate the scientific roles. (Assign roles at your discretion and have the Equipment Directors gather the inquiry chart for their team).
2. Yesterday, we answered more of our Inquiry Chart questions. Some of you completed an entire column and others started to answer more than one column. (This may or may not be true for your class. Please adjust as needed.)
3. Today we will answer more questions or add additional information from a website. (Refer to the “Reading for Specific Information on a Website” anchor chart, reminding learners about the discussion during the mini-lesson on how to use a website. If you do not have enough technology for all teams to use the Internet at once, you may rotate them between technology and traditional texts.)
4. Now, teams will work together on their Inquiry Charts. (Be sure to display the class Inquiry Chart as a model.)

During Inquiry Circles (20 minutes)

1. Today, you may use a different resource to add to a question you’ve already started to answer, or you may answer a completely different question. Do not forget that it is important to record your resources on the Inquiry Chart as you complete it. (Remind learners that the class Inquiry Chart about pill bugs is visible as a guide. Also, you may choose to be more explicit for your class and only allow them to answer one question at a time daily. Use your judgement on the level of guidance.)
2. (At this point, teams might have information under multiple questions and from multiple sources. You many need to remind teams that information in the same row is from the same source and information in the same column pertains to the same question. One source might answer multiple questions.)
3. Remember, we have anchor charts to help guide your thinking. Do not forget to use them! (Refer to the “Inquiry Toolbox,” “Monitoring Comprehension,” and “Fix-up Strategy” anchor charts. Remind learners that even though the mini-lesson today was about reading on the Internet, we still monitor our reading and use fix-up strategies.)
4. My role is to help guide the inquiry circles, but I expect you to work as a team to solve your problems together. (While teams are working together, walk around the room to facilitate, making note of their progress and offering guidance as needed.)

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 answered, as well as what they accomplished and what literacy strategies they used. The Lab Director will lead the discussion about today’s results. Discuss what the team learned about its outdoor organism. How did the team feel about using a website versus a traditional text? Did team members monitor their reading comprehension? If your team came across a reading problem, which fix-up strategy did team members use? What other problems did the team encounter? How did the team resolve those problems? (While teams are working together, walk around the room to facilitate as needed.)
2. The Data Scientist will now share with the entire class either something the team learned about their outdoor organism, which fix-up strategy they used, or how the team solved a problem.(Try to encourage teams to share a variety of things—you do not want just facts about outdoor organisms, just fix-up strategies, or just cooperative learning strategies. If you saw a great example in action, encourage that team to share with the entire class.)

Guided Science Investigation

OVERVIEW

Learners discuss what kind of information they will be looking for in their investigations, then they will make their first observations and record them in their journals.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

What information do I need to answer my question? How will I collect the information? Where and how will I record it?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THE TEACHER

Scientists know that collecting information through observations and measurements may provide the evidence they need for making explanations and answering questions. Documenting the information they collect is important because the next step will be to make sense of the information and determine if they have answered their questions or if they need to conduct more investigations.

SAFETY

Remind the learners not to open the habitat lids and to handle the habitats gently without shaking. Remind learners of the rules for observing pill bugs.

SETUP

Before the class:

• Pre-cut the food chosen by the teams and place on small paper plates marked with the team identifier. (Each habitat will only need a small portion: 2–3 small pieces.)
• The teacher will need to take a closeup picture of what the food looks like today (Day 6) and on Day 10 when final observations are made. The pictures will be used in the culminating project.
• On a sheet of chart paper, make an enlarged version of the Day 1 page in the “Pill Bug Investigation” journal to model with.
• Place hand lenses in same location as mini-habitats.

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

Teams will make their first observations today! They will look at what the pill bugs are doing and describe what the food looks like today. Give children time to observe their organisms and record their observations in their science journals. Facilitate team discussions by asking questions, such as “What did you notice? Has anything changed since the last time you observed your organisms?” Observations can be made at any time of the day, as long as they are made daily.

PROCEDURE

Engage

1. Ask the Equipment Directors to distribute the “Pill Bug Investigation” journals. Announce to the class, Today you will add the food you have chosen to the habitats. Then, you will make your first observations.
2. Ask, What kind of information are we going to be looking for as we make our observations? Answers will vary (to see what the pill bugs are doing, to see if they are eating their food, etc.). Accept all responses.

Explore

1. Distribute the small plates of food to each team. Direct the Lead Scientist to add the food bits carefully to the habitats.
2. Instruct the class to open their journals to the Day 1 page where they will document their observations. Using the enlarged version on chart paper, point out the space where they will write the date (the date should be posted or written where they can see it to copy). Explain, It is very important to date the observations in a science journal—scientists always date their notes and observations in an investigation. It is a way to organize the information and to track any changes over time.
3. Next, Remember you will make observations every day and enter information in your journals. Point out question #1: “What did you see the pill bugs doing today?”
4. Read the sentence stem aloud: “Today the pill bugs are…” Ask, How would you finish this sentence? What kind of information might you write here? (Moving, sleeping, eating, etc.) Ask, Why might that be important? Accept all responses.
5. Draw their attention to the blank space next to the sentence stem. Explain that they will also draw a picture to show what the pill bugs were doing each day.
6. Point to question #2: “Describe what the food in the habitats looks like today.” Ask, Why is it important to write about what the food looks like? (Because they are tracking changes in the food in their investigation.) Accept their responses.
7. Then, read the sentence stem “Today I noticed that the food…” Ask learners, What might you notice over the next few days? (Is it bitten? The same? Missing? Changing color? etc.) Add that there is another space to draw what they see.
8. Let the class know that they will be writing about and drawing their observations every day for 5 days total, including today. As scientists, they need to make careful observations and recordings!
9. At this point, ask the Equipment Directors to bring the mini-habitats to their teams.
10. Tell the class that today they will have 15 minutes to make their observations and write and draw in their journals. Let them know that you will be walking around to answer any questions they may have.
11. As the teams work, listen for their ideas, observations, and reasoning. Accept their observations. Offer guidance in the form of questions, such as, How do you know? What do you see? How can you tell? How would you describe that?

Explain

1. When time is up, ask the Equipment Directors to collect the mini-habitats and return them to the designated area. Lab Directors should make sure the area is clean.
2. Ask the Data Scientists from each team to briefly report on what the team observed.
3. Ask the class if they have any new questions to add to the “What we want to know about roly-polies” class list. Let them know you will revisit the list to see if they have answers to all their questions at the end of their investigations!

Elaborate

1. Tell learners that the information, or data, they collect as they observe the pill bugs will be used as evidence that supports an answer to their question.
2. For example, the evidence might be that the food they chose is all gone. Ask, If the food is all gone, what does that tell us? (The pill bugs liked the food?) What if they don’t eat it at all? (Maybe they don’t like it?) Whatever they observe will be their evidence, or clue(s), about what pill bugs eat.

Evaluate

1. Did learners demonstrate an understanding of what kind of information they need to collect?
2. Did they record their information in the journals?
3. Did they use any new science language in their communications?
4. Were any new questions raised?

Expanded Standards