A Student Centered Inquiry Based Learning Activity
I wanted to share an example of a student centered inquire based learning activity that I designed for my class. Below I will present an overview of the activity, links to the material used and a formative and summative assessment. I will also explain why I believe this is an appropriate activity for an inquiry based authentic learning experience.
I begin the unit by giving student an introduction to wave motion using classroom demonstrations similar to these. This allows students to experience the phenomena directly and in doing so they become more invested in the rest of the unit because they can relate to the material on a deeper level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gr7KmTOrx0
Students will draw some pictures of what they see and label some important features of wave motion to become familiar with basic features like wavelength, amplitude and frequency.
The following class students work with an online simulation of of the demonstration they saw in class. After a few minutes of playtime where the can explore the simulation on their own, all options are reset and students begin an inquiry based exploration of several important questions regarding wave motion. These guiding questions are...
I begin the unit by giving student an introduction to wave motion using classroom demonstrations similar to these. This allows students to experience the phenomena directly and in doing so they become more invested in the rest of the unit because they can relate to the material on a deeper level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gr7KmTOrx0
Students will draw some pictures of what they see and label some important features of wave motion to become familiar with basic features like wavelength, amplitude and frequency.
The following class students work with an online simulation of of the demonstration they saw in class. After a few minutes of playtime where the can explore the simulation on their own, all options are reset and students begin an inquiry based exploration of several important questions regarding wave motion. These guiding questions are...
- Does amplitude affect wavelength?
- Does frequency affect wavelength?
- Does tension affect wavelength?
- Does frequency affect wave speed?
- Does tension affect wave speed?
There are other questions along the way but these are the major relationships they need to understand by the end of the activity. I believe that an inquiry based approach is one of the best ways to begin a new unit. This allows the students to explore what they will be learning on their own. They will have a chance to form some of their own opinions about whats happening before they discover the relationships in a guided fashion.
I find that this time of discovery builds a sense of discovery and surprise in the students as they journey into new educational territory. The students enjoy this because they are not being told what to believe or what is true and will have a much deeper connection with the material when they eventually integrate their experiences and find they match what the textbook says.
Inquiry based learning is a great way to make learning student centered leaning. Interactive simulations have been identified by Lever-Duffy and Mcdonald (2015) and Roblyer (2016) as a type of technology that increases student creativity, is student centered and allows students to develop their own appropriate mental models.
I find that this time of discovery builds a sense of discovery and surprise in the students as they journey into new educational territory. The students enjoy this because they are not being told what to believe or what is true and will have a much deeper connection with the material when they eventually integrate their experiences and find they match what the textbook says.
Inquiry based learning is a great way to make learning student centered leaning. Interactive simulations have been identified by Lever-Duffy and Mcdonald (2015) and Roblyer (2016) as a type of technology that increases student creativity, is student centered and allows students to develop their own appropriate mental models.
The PhET simulation used is here...
And the document that guides them is here..
After the simulation I will assign a reading selection for the students that night so they can begin to develop a relationship with the academic vocabulary used in this unit. To get some feedback on student progress and understanding I have them complete a practice session with a online learning tool called Concept Builders at The Physics Classroom website. The specific Concept Builder used is named Rocking The Boat and has them to apply their knowledge of wave motion to boats in a harbor. This is not waves on a string, but all the ideas are the same and students get to apply their knowledge to a new situation. The site keeps track of progress and gives a trophy for mastering a concept. Students need to earn all three trophies and submit a screenshot of it to google classroom as evidence.
This Concept Builder has some properties of authentic assessment. The activity in general is relevant to real life experiences because students have played with ropes and strings, seen the in class live demonstration and have seen boats or other items bobbing up and down in water as waves roll past. This makes learning engaging and keeps students interested. Because students need to provide evidence and reasoning to support their claims and then apply their ideas in a new situation, critical thinking is involved as students synthesize their theories of wave motion.
Edutopia (2010), a division a of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, stated that with appropriate training students can self govern their learning and using formative assessments gives teaches greater freedom to differentiate instruction as they work with individual students. This is certainly true in my experience. As my students work on the Concept Builder I can roam the room noting which students finish quickly and which struggle. Using my observations of student progress along with the evidence of progress students submit is a great formative assessment.
This Concept Builder has some properties of authentic assessment. The activity in general is relevant to real life experiences because students have played with ropes and strings, seen the in class live demonstration and have seen boats or other items bobbing up and down in water as waves roll past. This makes learning engaging and keeps students interested. Because students need to provide evidence and reasoning to support their claims and then apply their ideas in a new situation, critical thinking is involved as students synthesize their theories of wave motion.
Edutopia (2010), a division a of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, stated that with appropriate training students can self govern their learning and using formative assessments gives teaches greater freedom to differentiate instruction as they work with individual students. This is certainly true in my experience. As my students work on the Concept Builder I can roam the room noting which students finish quickly and which struggle. Using my observations of student progress along with the evidence of progress students submit is a great formative assessment.
The Concept Builder is located here. Try it for yourself!
I encourage students that struggle to watch some review videos I post for them and to continue working with the Concept Builder outside of class until they can easily complete it. After all that the students are ready for a summative assessment in the form of a quick quiz. I don't want to release the actual quiz I use so I have provided a few links to online quizzes that are very similar to what I use, in fact I provide these to students as well so they can practice ahead of time if desired. Note that for each link there are several additional pages of questions after the questions on page 1 end.
I hope you enjoyed this post and please feel free to use and/or modify any of the materials linked here for your own classroom use.
REFERENCES
Edutopia. (2010). Use formative assessment to differentiate instruction. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-learning-styles-video
Edutopia. (2010). Use formative assessment to differentiate instruction. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-learning-styles-video
Lever-Duffy, J. and McDonald, J. (2015). Teaching and learning with technology. 5th ed. Boston:
Pearson Education.
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson Education.
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson Education.
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