Professional Inquiry Project

PSIII Professional Inquiry Project

In what ways does my frequent use of interactive and hands-on learning experiences engage learners and foster curiosity about the Nature of Science?

In the context of my Grade 7 Science classroom in PSIII, I wanted to investigate how taking a hands-on approach to science helped the students to be more engaged, and to develop a curiosity about the natural world and the Nature of Science

I created this question to meet the need of engagement in the classroom; and to help me develop an exciting teaching philosophy in science that I am inspired by.

The Nature of Science refers to the skills and attitudes critical to questioning, hypothesizing, investigating, and analyzing something about the how things work in the natural/scientific world. Fostering NOS means encouraging students to be curious about how things work, and if they don't know - to find out!

Professor Doug Checkley from the UofL Faculty of Education introduced me to Nature of Science in PSII, and I thought about its importance ever since. Thank you Doug, for helping me to understand the values at the root of science education, and for helping me to streamline this PIP project.

Implementations

1. Frequent Labs where students grapple with hands-on science. Students hypothesize, investigate, and analyze to acheive understanding.

Some labs took place outside, while others included multi-day processes or hands-on testing or creation.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Outdoor Lab - Students were "birds", and had to collect "food" (marbles or string) with either a spoon or fork to represent their beak. Counts were taken after each round.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Outdoor Lab - Students investigated distribution of living things within 1m squared quadrats around the schoolyard.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Open-ended Lab - "What is the effect on various pollutants on a bean, pumpkin, and marigold sprout?" Students chose which pollutant to add, and were curious as to what it would do to their plants.

Structures and Forces

"Which brand of tissue has the best structural strength?"

Students investigated the problem and recorded and analyzed their results.

Structures and Forces

"What is the effect of external force of load on your bridge?"

Students build bridges from straws, tape, and string, and tested their load performance.

2. Projects relevant to their interests that interactively engage students with their learning, asking them to create and research. Students were often given a large degree of choice in these projects, allowing for the freedom to follow their curiosities.

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Structures and Forces

Students built sturctures of different form and function on Minecraft Education Edition.

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Interactions and Ecosystems

Research project on an endangered species. Students could choose the animal, and format of the project.

3. Frequent use of demonstrations, small activities, and hands-on manipulatives to hook students and supplement lesson material.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Students created food webs by drawing, cut-and-paste, or digital art. They could choose any ecosystem, including fictional ones.

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A student playing with slime made in-class.

A student testing a bridge made from a single sheet of paper.

A demonstration using a boiled egg and Erlenmeyer flask to hook kids into the lesson.

Reception and Results

Anecdotally:

The students looked forward to lab days, or the little activities/demonstrations we did in class. I felt they were far more engaged during these lessons than on days that were note-heavy. Many students cite these as the days the feel they learned best.

Many of the students may not have realized it, but they showed me their curiosity often. When they asked questions that extended beyond the class material, or got excited to see what happened with their bean plant or if their bridge would hold up all the weight. I heard students hypothesizing how to improve their bridges or discussing how they will create the ideal "egg drop capsule". The students were engaged with scientific thinking and wondering about the world - the fundamental goal behind Nature of Science.

Student Feedback:

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Feedback from a student that really appreciated the Minecraft project, so I asked him to write his thoughts on the project in a paragraph.

Interviews with Students: (At end of Interactions and Ecosystems, transcribed)

1. Which activities in the past unit did you enjoy the most?

KS: "I liked the posters and research project where we got to research our own stuff"

KC: "When we went outside and looked at the living things in [quadrats]"

CF: "I liked when we did the experiment with fork beaks and spoon beaks"

SG: "The food web because I got to do what I love, which is draw whatever ecosystem I wanted"

2. Do you feel like you learned better from notes, or hands-on activities?

KS: "Hands-on, and like when we went outside"

KC: "A little bit of both, but I'm leaning towards the [hands-on] activities because it gets us actually engaged with the activity"

ZF: "Hands-on stuff for sure"

EM: "I feel like I learned a bit from notes, but I feel like in all I learned more with the hands-on activities"

3. At any point, did you feel curious about science, or wonder what was going to happen?

EM: "Yeah, like with the beans, I wanted to figure out what would happen with my bean"

CF: "In the ones where we were looking up the animals affected by human impact"

PF: "[In the bean lab] I wanted to see what effects it would have, like if it would grow what it would look like"

ZF: [In the bean lab] I was really curious how some of the [pollutants] that were super absurd would [affect the plants]"

Applications to UDL:

A student of mine, A, had low literacy levels and struggled with anything writing or reading related.

A typically refused to engage in any note-taking or written assignments.

Grades ranged from 0%- ~30% on high-literacy assessments.

A engaged in the hands-on and interactive activities and assignments.

Grade on the Minecraft Project = 67%

Grade on Bridge Building Lab = 70%

A is a very tactile learner. He will engage with hands-on activities and can easily show his learning physically or verbally. These varied forms of teaching and assessment allowed him to experience academic success.

Universal Design for Learning is supported as different types of learners get to engage with content and show their learning in various, relevant ways.

Reflection

How did this project impact my students?

I believe my students had better learning experiences in my classroom due to my implementation of a hands-on model. The students routinely got excited for the interactive elements of my lessons, and thus showed me that they were engaged and ready to learn. Many of my students experienced academic success during my Units, some of which reported not always having been great at science. I hope that I leave my students with a lasting sense of curiosity about science, and a positive attitude towards the subject as a whole.

How did this project contribute to my own learning?

I learned some great strategies and systems for planning and facilitating interactive learning experiences in the classroom. I learned to use new interactive educational technology, and strategies for organizing multi-step labs in a way that students can easily follow and will not become overwhelmed by. I struggled for a while on how to collect evidence that I was answering my question, so I also learned about the importance of student feedback in informed teaching. Without my interviews I would not have truly known if students felt they were experiencing better learning or curiosity qiwithin my implementations. I think seeking student feedback other than grades is important for keeping your classroom practices effective and enjoyable for learners.

What do my findings mean for my future teaching endeavors?

I feel that I found a system of teaching science that was effective and also exciting for me to both plan and teach. I am happy with the outcome of my work and plan to use a hands-on model in my future classroom; whatever grade or subject that may be. Seeing the students become engaged and excited about their learning is an amazing feeling, and I now know that there is benefit to teaching this way. I will continue to grow and find new ways to engage my students by putting their learning in their hands.

Conclusion

I asked:

"In what ways does my frequent use of interactive and hands-on learning experiences engage learners and foster curiosity about the Nature of Science?"

Hannah Stonjeck

B.Ed / B.Sc Alberta Educator

PSIII Professional Inquiry Project

In what ways does my frequent use of interactive and hands-on learning experiences engage learners and foster curiosity about the Nature of Science?

I created this question to meet the need of engagement in the classroom; and to help me develop an exciting teaching philosophy in science that I am inspired by.

Professor Doug Checkley from the UofL Faculty of Education introduced me to Nature of Science in PSII, and I thought about its importance ever since. Thank you Doug, for helping me to understand the values at the root of science education, and for helping me to streamline this PIP project.

Implementations

1. Frequent Labs where students grapple with hands-on science. Students hypothesize, investigate, and analyze to acheive understanding.

Some labs took place outside, while others included multi-day processes or hands-on testing or creation.

​

Interactions and Ecosystems

Outdoor Lab - Students were "birds", and had to collect "food" (marbles or string) with either a spoon or fork to represent their beak. Counts were taken after each round.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Outdoor Lab - Students investigated distribution of living things within 1m squared quadrats around the schoolyard.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Open-ended Lab - "What is the effect on various pollutants on a bean, pumpkin, and marigold sprout?" Students chose which pollutant to add, and were curious as to what it would do to their plants.

Structures and Forces

"Which brand of tissue has the best structural strength?"

Students investigated the problem and recorded and analyzed their results.

Structures and Forces

"What is the effect of external force of load on your bridge?"

Students build bridges from straws, tape, and string, and tested their load performance.

2. Projects relevant to their interests that interactively engage students with their learning, asking them to create and research. Students were often given a large degree of choice in these projects, allowing for the freedom to follow their curiosities.

​

Structures and Forces

Students built sturctures of different form and function on Minecraft Education Edition.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Research project on an endangered species. Students could choose the animal, and format of the project.

3. Frequent use of demonstrations, small activities, and hands-on manipulatives to hook students and supplement lesson material.

Interactions and Ecosystems

Students created food webs by drawing, cut-and-paste, or digital art. They could choose any ecosystem, including fictional ones.

A student playing with slime made in-class.

A student testing a bridge made from a single sheet of paper.

A demonstration using a boiled egg and Erlenmeyer flask to hook kids into the lesson.

Reception and Results

Anecdotally:

​

The students looked forward to lab days, or the little activities/demonstrations we did in class. I felt they were far more engaged during these lessons than on days that were note-heavy. Many students cite these as the days the feel they learned best.

​

​

Student Feedback:

Feedback from a student that really appreciated the Minecraft project, so I asked him to write his thoughts on the project in a paragraph.

​

​

Interviews with Students: (At end of Interactions and Ecosystems, transcribed)

​

1. Which activities in the past unit did you enjoy the most?

​

KS: "I liked the posters and research project where we got to research our own stuff"

​

KC: "When we went outside and looked at the living things in [quadrats]"

​

CF: "I liked when we did the experiment with fork beaks and spoon beaks"

​

SG: "The food web because I got to do what I love, which is draw whatever ecosystem I wanted"

​

2. Do you feel like you learned better from notes, or hands-on activities?

​

KS: "Hands-on, and like when we went outside"

​

KC: "A little bit of both, but I'm leaning towards the [hands-on] activities because it gets us actually engaged with the activity"

​

ZF: "Hands-on stuff for sure"

​

EM: "I feel like I learned a bit from notes, but I feel like in all I learned more with the hands-on activities"

​

3. At any point, did you feel curious about science, or wonder what was going to happen?

​

EM: "Yeah, like with the beans, I wanted to figure out what would happen with my bean"

​

CF: "In the ones where we were looking up the animals affected by human impact"

​

PF: "[In the bean lab] I wanted to see what effects it would have, like if it would grow what it would look like"

​

ZF: [In the bean lab] I was really curious how some of the [pollutants] that were super absurd would [affect the plants]"

​

​

Applications to UDL:

​

A student of mine, A, had low literacy levels and struggled with anything writing or reading related.

B.Ed / B.Sc
Alberta Educator