Sunday, November 14, 2010
A Lesson in Guided Inquiry
I had my student do the collision activity testing mass and velocity in two of my classes. I used my children's Hot Wheels and set up 11 stations throughout my room on the lab tables. I just told them we were going to study physics today- even though we are currently studying genetics! After they did some experimentation they went on the computer to look at Newton's 3 Laws. I think when the students hear Newton, they think apple and gravity. After they got over that, most were able to correlate the lesson with the Laws. My lesson went pretty well but I think I just need to do more planning the next time. I should have had different objects of different mass and the course should have been more smoooth. Ideally the subject would be something we were studying. What I got from the lesson is that I do not always have to teach the subject first before I do an activity, lab, or experiment. I can let loose a little and let the kids discover the answer for themselves.
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How brave of you to conduct your experiment with your class! How did you collect the data and what did you do with it? In first grade I'm lucky if my class thinks of fig Newtons when I say Newton. I rarely have a student who can collect data much less interpret it but I do begin them on classification; simple sorting. Letting the kids discover for themselves is very refreshing when they actually do discover something. Having the time to let it happen is tough. There aren't enough hours in the day.
ReplyDeleteNice post. Joyce