Imagine It

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Imagine It!

• Inquiry

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Why Use the Inquiry Process?

• Instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and
• listening is often fragmented and lacking in a
• coherent plan that allows students to work with
• knowledge.
• For example Instruction often centers on themes,
  which are little
• more than topics covered in a superficial manner.
  The information
• may not necessarily relate to the information
  they find in reading
• the text book or selection. Writing assignments
  focus on simple
• read-and-report activities rather than on ways to
  help students
• gain information they can use over time to
  construct an
• understanding of the world.

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Inquiry

• The SRA Imagine It! Program has two types of
  units
• Units based on universal topics of interest such
  as friendship, kindness, and courage.
• Content units that provide students with a solid
  base of information upon which they can begin
  their own Inquiry and research.

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Inquiry

• Based upon common areas of interest, students
  conduct
• Inquiry in small collaborative groups and then
  present their
• findings to their classmates. In this way,
  students
• recognize the importance of sharing knowledge and
  gain
• much more knowledge of the unit theme than they
  would
• have simply by reading the selections in the
  unit.

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• This ability to read to find out what is needed
  or what one wants to learn is a hallmark of
  scholarship.

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Inquiry

• SRA Imagine It! Helps students conduct research
  within their language arts instruction. It
  teaches them how to research and explore any area
  in which they are interested or have something
  they need to know. This is an aspect of education
  that is often neglected until high school or even
  college.

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Inquiry

• In SRA Imagine It!, students model the behavior
  of expert learners and researchers.
  Opportunities for students, individually and in
  groups, to explore, to write about, and to
  discuss key concepts in a specific area lead to
  improved critical thinking and reading skills.
  Students become independent, intentional,
  self-directed learners.
• Rigor and Relevance are automatically addressed.

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Inquiry

• The idea of research is introduced as early as
  kindergarten.
• Procedures for collaborative research formalized
  further in first grade.
• Beginning in second grade and continuing through
  sixth grade, students are led, working
  individually or collaboratively, to pursue
  problems that interest them in the same manner
  that an adult would conduct research.

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InquiryHow Does the Inquiry Process Differ from
Conventional Research Instruction?

• In conventional elementary school classrooms,
  research means collect information and prepare a
  paper. They conduct their research by
  following a procedure that usually involves a
  series of steps such as
• Select a topic
• Narrow the topic
• Collect materials
• Take notes
• Organize notes
• Make an outline
• Write the paper
• Present the paper

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Inquiry

• Although this procedure may result in the
• preparation of an adequate paper, it does
• not constitute research in any meaningful or
• useful sense.

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Inquiry

• Ample evidence exists that elementary school
  students can do descriptive, historical, and
  experimental research that seeks answers to real
  questions or solutions to real problems.
• To do this kind of work, however, students need a
  better research procedure than the one provided
  by the traditional approach.

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Inquiry

• The inquiry process is based on the assumption
  that students can do research that will result in
  the construction of deeper knowledge and the
  appreciation that research is a never-ending,
  recursive cycle. Like real-world researchers
  students can
• Produce their questions
• Develop ideas or conjectures about why something
  is the way it is
• Pursue the answers
• The answers, as for real researchers, may never
  come. What will come are more questions.

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Inquiry

• Conjecture- To form an opinion or judgment based
  on
• incomplete or inconclusive information.
• Why is the term conjecture used? It seems to be
  an
• unnecessarily difficult term to use with young
  students.
• The term conjecture is used because
• It is the most precise term in context of the
  inquiry procedure.
• It has a respectable place in the philosophy of
  science.
• It is a good idea to use technical vocabulary
  with students when certain terms will be used
  frequently and when everyday language does not
  offer entirely adequate substitutes. The point
  to emphasize is that the goal of the research is
  to improve conjectures. For that to work, there
  must be a conjecture with which to start.

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Inquiry

• To make the research productive, the following
• important principles are embodied in this
• approach
• Research is focused on problems or questions, not
  topics.
• Questions and wonderings are the foundation for
  Inquiry and research.
• Conjectures-opinions based on less-than-complete
  evidence of proof- are derived from questions and
  guide the research the research does not simply
  produce conjectures.

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Inquiry

• New information and data are gathered to test and
  revise conjectures.
• Discussion, ongoing feedback, and constructive
  criticism are important in all phases of the
  research but especially in the revision of
  problems and conjectures.
• The cycle of true research is essentially
  endless, although presentations of findings are
  made from time to time new findings give rise to
  new problems and conjectures and thus to new
  cycles of research.
• Using the inquiry process is an effective
  strategy to teach for understanding.

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What Does the Inquiry Process Look Likein the
Classroom?

• In the classroom, the inquiry process takes
• students through a recursive cycle that
• involves many steps. Students may go
• through these steps several times before
• they come to the end of their research.

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Inquiry Steps of the Recursive Cycle of Research

• Decide on a problem or question to research.
• Formulate an idea or a conjecture about the
  problem.
• Identify needs, and make plans.
• Reevaluate the problem or question based on what
  has been learned.
• Revise the idea or conjecture.
• Make presentations.
• Identify new needs, and make new plans.
• The Scientific Method used for the Science Fair
  is a perfect example of the Inquiry Process.

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InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research.

• Students should identify a question or
• problem that they truly wonder about or
• wish to understand and then form research
• groups with other students who have the
• same interests.
• My problem or question is ___________.

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InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research.

• When the procedure is first introduced,
• students may require some help in
• formulating problems or questions,
• especially if they are accustomed to doing
• conventional, topic-centered research for
• the purpose of writing paper.

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InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research.

• In the inquiry process, students begin generating
• questions as they discuss ideas related to a
• common theme. Discussion is key as students
• think about what they know and what they are
• interested in learning. In contrast, if students
• consult reference sources like the encyclopedia
• before discussion, they are likely to generate
• questions the reference source already has
• answered or problems in which they have no real
• interest.

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InquiryStep 1 Decide on a problem or question
to research

• Occasionally students may select problems that
  are too hard for them.
• When this occurs, teachers should remind students
  that the criterion of success is not finding
  answers but making progress. It takes patience
  and effort to shift the criterion of success from
  answers to progress, but it is an important move
  toward building a community of scholars.

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The Art of the Question--A question can either
shut down or open up a conversation.
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Have a rich discussion about the elements of good
questions.
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InquiryStep 2 Formulate an idea or a
conjecture about the problem.

• Students should think about and discuss
• with classmates possible answers to their
• research problems or questions and meet with
• their research groups to discuss and record their
• ideas or conjectures.
• My idea/conjecture/theory about this question or
  problem is _______________________.

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InquiryStep 3 Identify needs and make plans.

• Students should identify knowledge needs related
  to their
• conjectures and meet with their research groups
  to
• determine which resources to consult and who will
  perform
• individual job assignments. Students also should
  meet
• periodically with the teacher, to present
  preliminary
• findings and make revisions to their problems and
• conjectures on the basis of these findings.
• I need to find out _____________.
• To do this, I will need these resources___________
  .
• My role in the group is _________________.
• This is what I have learned so far_____________.
• This is what happened when we presented our
  findings______________________.

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InquiryStep 3 Identify needs and make plans.

• Identifying needs and making plans can proceed
• in two ways, depending on the students. Younger
• students might be encouraged to discuss
• questions that are related to the problem to be
• researched. Discussion can keep students from
• focusing on one key word and alert them to a
• wider range of relevant information. Older
• students, however, should begin by asking
• themselves what they need to know.

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InquiryStep 4 Reevaluate the problem or
question based on what has been learned.

• At this step, students gather new information,
• guided by their research problem, conjectures,
• information needs, and plans. Depending on the
• kind of research a student is conducting, she or
• he may obtain new information from all kinds of
• sources print materials, videos, electronically
• stored data, experiments, observations,
• interviews, and consultations with experts.
• My revised problem or question is_____________.

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InquiryStep 4 Reevaluate the problem or
question based on what has been learned.

• Students should use the new information they
  obtain to change their conjectures or reformulate
  their problems. When students report their
  findings, they must be prepared to respond to the
  questions
• What does this tell us that we didnt know?
• How does this information help us?
• Such questions should not be thought as negative
  criticisms but as legitimate queries.

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InquiryStep 5 Revise the idea or conjecture.

• In research, unlike most other activities,
  everything is open to revision problems,
  conjectures, plans, methods, and even previously
  accepted facts. Accordingly, the revision step
  of the cycle has no specific agenda. Revision
  should not be impulsive, students should have a
  reason for making changes. New facts, new
  insights, or new inferences may be a basis for
  revisions of various kinds. Because there is no
  specific agenda, it is difficult to provide much
  structure for the revision step. The important
  thing is that individual students, research
  teams, and the entire class have opportunities to
  meet and consider possible revision. This is
  where most of the real thinking and knowledge
  building will occur. Knowledge does not come
  simply from the acquisition of new information.
  It comes from reconsidering current beliefs and
  conjectures in the light of new information and
  trying to make sense of them in combination.
• My new conjecture about this problem is_________.

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InquiryStep 5 Revise the idea or conjecture.

• Discussions need to be focused in ways
• that will promote revision. If research has
• been going well, students will be eager for a
• chance to report what they have found and
• not so eager to dwell on what others have
• found.

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InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.

• In conventional research projects,
• everything is aimed toward the final
• product-usually a written or oral report, but
• sometimes a presentation in some other
• medium such as videotape, a
• demonstration, a model, or a poster.

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InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.

• These presentations all contribute to revision.
• They produce feedback and criticism from peers
• that may change the research or modify
• conjectures. They are occasions for the
• presenters to think through what they have done
• and what the implications are.

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InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.

• In the inquiry cycle, presentations are an
  offshoot
• of the revision step. Because revision steps are
• expected to occur frequently, ample opportunities
• arise for presentations of all kinds. The
  following
• is a list of some useful, informal presentation
• formats. Each is intended to take less than ten
• minutes, including a few minutes of discussion.

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InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.

• Mini-debate- Group members who have opposing
  conjectures present them, along with supporting
  evidence and arguments, for class reactions.
• Video/computer highlights- A research group
  presents and comments on short (one minute or
  less) segments of a videotape or Web site display
  that group members think will be of value to
  other research groups.
• Book or article highlights- These are similar to
  video highlights, with the presenters reading
  excerpts and offering comments.

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InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.

• Preliminary findings- A group uses graphs and
  other visuals to help communicate its findings
  more quickly.
• Problem presentations- Groups that are not able
  to find relevant material or that have found
  something puzzling or inconsistent present their
  present their problem for suggestions.
• Power Point Presentations- Groups can create a
  Power Point presentation that includes relevant
  pictures, charts, and graphs.

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InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.

• Poster session- When not enough class time is
  available for all students who want to present
  their research, teachers can allot a certain
  amount of wall space to each presenter to put up
  whatever kind of display he or she wants-graphs
  and pictures with captions, summaries in large
  print, and so on. At the start of a poster
  session, each presenter may have one minute to
  announce the intent of the poster. Then the
  class is free to study the posters, with the
  presenters standing by to talk about them. This
  kind of presentation is common at scientific and
  research conferences.

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InquiryStep 6 Make Presentations.

• These brief presentations are not intended to
• take the place of a final product (although they
• may). They should, however, take some of the
• emphasis off the final product and give
• students a better sense of research as a
• continuous process, with presentations as part
• of that process.

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InquiryStep 7 Identify new needs and make new
plans.

• As stated earlier, the inquiry process views
  research as a recursive, never-ending process.
  Students should be encouraged to pursue problems
  or questions that interest them long after a unit
  of study is over.
• Teachers may even let an inquiry unit continue
  for months if it is producing good learning.
  Some of the most successful inquiry research
  projects have lasted for almost an entire school
  year and engaged students so deeply that by the
  end, they have things to tell the experts!

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InquiryStep 7 Identify new needs and make new
plans.

• Based on what I found out, I still need to
  know_________.
• To do this, I will need these resources________.
• This is what I have learned______________.
• This is what happened when we presented our new
  findings_______________________.

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In a Nutshell!
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Inquiry
Conclusion

• Learning to read empowers students. Learning to
  learn enables them to use that power
  intelligently to direct their learning process
  and take charge of their lives.
• Students must learn how to identify problems, ask
  different kinds of questions, confirm
  understandings, predict outcomes, interpret text,
  wonder about meaning, and compare ideas. In
  brief, they must have opportunities to engage in
  the kind of inquiry that prepare them for
  real-world thinking, decision making, and problem
  solving.
• Inquiry is a new concept for many students and it
  is done over an extended period of time.