Planning Inquiry Lessons: Central Concepts and Concept Mapping

1. T 4.0 Chapter 4: Planning Inquiry Lessons Central Concepts: • Inquiry lessons focus on knowing and doing • Concept mapping is a tool to help form proper connections among concepts • Planning helps to assure learners will have necessary experiences and develop important attitudes, skills and ideas • Lessons must address National Science Education goals and outcomes

2. Inquiry Lessons • Key question: • “What do I expect learners to understand and be able to do?” • Understanding focuses on a central concept • Doing focuses on developing and using essential science skills and attitudes • Building the lessons begins with identifying the concept, skills and attitudes T 4.1

3. Standards • State and national standards in science reveal the essential concepts, skills and attitudes • Appendix A provides science concepts • Table 4.2 describes 4 new dimensions of science content outcomes T 4.2

4. T 4.3 What Is A Concept? • By definition, a concept is … ... a general idea or understanding that is derived from specific experiences; a thought or notion, an idea.

5. T 4.4 With Young Children ... • we have limits when teaching for conception • must teach in ways to overcome abstractions • must find a way to help learners make the concept concrete • must avoid "fuzzy" concepts when planning and teaching • must provide abundant opportunities for learners to experience real examples of the concept

6. T 4.5 Concept Map: A Tool for Planning the Inquiry • helps to plan instruction • makes abstract concepts more concrete • shows relationships among and between concepts • relationships “tell” a story to be learned through experiences • helps connect ideas with experiences • helps fit ideas into meaningful patterns • can be used as an Advance Organizer • can be used as a form of student evaluation

7. T 4.6 Parts of Concept Maps(Fig 7.4) • Superordinate concept: • the main idea at the top of a map • Subordinate concepts: • all other concepts on a map • Coordinating concepts: • the first row of subordinate concepts; help to organize clusters of concepts and show relationship to the superordinate • Propositions: • linking words that show relationships, e.g., "can be," "has"

8. Concept Map of Concept Map (Figure 4.4) superordinate coordinating subordinate concept concepts concepts most organize superordinate concept general concepts meaning shown by coordinating concepts CONCEPT MAP has has has uses link is at helps relates found at related to top categories bottom through propositions make tell show connections story T 4.7

9. T 4.8 Concept Mapping Steps 1. identify and list all concepts 2. separate any isolated facts 3. select a superordinate concept • cluster and arrange all subordinate concepts into levels (no one best way)

10. T 4.9 Concept Mapping Steps, cont. 5. draw lines to show relationships 6. write in propositions 7. identify concepts you will emphasize in lessons 8. plan your lessons to help students understand the concepts and to make connections with similar concepts in prior lessons

11. T 4.10 Planning Inquiry Lessons • Is there a variety of activities to accommodate student learning style differences? • Can you do the activity first, then introduce special vocabulary? • Do you have key questions that can be used to stimulate interaction? • Are the lessons focused on concept development?

12. Components of a Learning Cycle Inquiry Plan • Standards • Concept • Activities to promote inquiry • Materials to sustain inquiry • Safety & management • Exploring the concept • With learners, developing an explanation of the concept • Expanding learner understanding of and skills in using the concept • Evaluating learning at appropriate times and in appropriate ways T 4.11

13. Essential Questions • How can I identify and “get to the point?” • How can I faithfully model what science is and help the learners experience holistic science? • How can I address specific standards? • How can I promote science safely? • How can I teach effectively and in a manner that fits children’s learning? • How can I evaluate authentically what children know and can do? • How can I pull the answers to all of these questions into a single plan that also becomes my method for teaching? T 4.12

14. Planning for Inquiry: Learning Cycle Approach • Exploration • Explanation • Expansion • Evaluation T 4.13

15. T 4.14 Essential Questions for: Exploration • What do you want children to learn? (concept) • What main concept will be explored and later understood? • How can I engage the learners’ thinking and involve them in the inquiry? ‘ • What activities must children do to acquire the necessary information? • How will I stimulate the learners to remain engaged in the processes of inquiry? • What kinds of records about the activity must children keep? • What kinds of instructions and encouragement will the children need?

16. T 4.15 Essential Questions for:Explanation • What information must the students provide? • How will you help students to review or summarize their findings? • How can you help the students use their information to "invent" or to explain the lesson's concept? • What type of “sentence starter” could you use to help the learners to write an operational definition for the concept? • Why is the concept important?

17. T 4.16 Essential Questions for:Expansion • What additional inquiry activities will help the learners to understand the concept broader and deeper? • How can the new concept be connected to prior lessons? • What are examples of how the concept addresses the modern goals of science? • How can you encourage the students to use the concept in a new situation?, in ways that are important to them? • What new experiences and concepts will learners need to help them expand on the lesson’s concept?

18. T 4.17 Essential Questions for:Evaluation • What key questions can encourage deeper exploration? • What questions and types of evaluation tasks can be used to help the learners connect the concept to others?, to avoid science misconceptions? • How can you help learners to develop and strengthen essential science attitudes? • What performance tasks can be used to help the students demonstrate what they understand about the concept and its uses? • How can you help students use basic process skills to develop integrated skills?