INQUIRY LEARNING
Saouma BouJaoude
Sahar Alameh
Nada Radwan
Science Education For Diversity Project
American University of AUB
WS Learning outcomes
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Describe the elements of inquiry-based learning
Specify and define the steps of inquiry
Develop good inquiry questions
Describe the role of learners and teachers in inquirybased learning
Differentiate between traditional and inquiry teaching
Describe the characteristics of an inquiry based science
activities
Describe strategies to implement science inquiry activities
Design curriculum-based science inquiry activities exciting
activities
Develop frameworks to evaluate science inquiry activities
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Introductory activity
 Title: The balanced box
 Question: How was the box designed to work
as it does?
 Procedure:
 Observe the box carefully
 Use the observations to produce a design of the tube
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Conclusions
 Knowledge is constructed by humans
 Knowledge is speculative and unreliable
 Knowledge grows through exposure
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ACTIVITY: Definition of Inquiry
 PURPOSE: The purpose of this activity is to
introduce participants to the K-W-L-H method
in order to initiate inquiry and specify its steps.
The activity stresses the importance of priorknowledge and teachers’ and learners’
generated questions in inquiry.
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Question
 What are the sources of energy on which
human beings depend at the present time?
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Tentative list of energy sources
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Food
Fire
Animal labor
Rivers
Wind
Sun
Fossil fuels
Chemical
Atomic
…..
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Investigate the following questions
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What changes took place overtime in the
energy sources available to human beings?
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What are the trends for energy consumed by
each person over time?
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Questions
 What specific questions are you interested in
answering related to energy sources and
energy consumed by each person?
 Knowing that Chart 1 was developed in 1972,
how can we learn more about energy sources
and energy consumed by each person now
and in the future?
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Questions that can be asked
 What energy sources are available now?
 What do you expect the amount of energy
used for food by each person daily to be now?
 What do you expect the amount of energy
used for transportation by each person daily to
be now?
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Questions that can be asked
 What energy sources are available now?
 What do you expect the amount of energy used for
food by each person daily to be now?
 What do you expect the amount of energy used for
transportation by each person daily to be now?
 What sources would you use to get new data on
energy?
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Criteria to evaluate web pages
 Accuracy. The author and institution that published the web page is
provided along with ways of contacting him/her
 Authority. The page presents the author’s credentials and its domain
(.edu, .gov, .org, or .net).
 Objectivity. The web page provides accurate information with limited
advertising and it is objective in presenting the information.
 Currency. The web page is current and updated regularly (as stated on
the page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date.
 Coverage. The information in the web page can be viewed properly-not limited to fees, browser technology, or software requirements.
 Refer to:
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.html
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ACTIVITY 1
 TITLE: Why does the water rise?
 MATERIALS:
 Trough or basin,
 Matches,
 Gas jar,
 Birthday candles,
 Modeling clay
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Activity 2:
The Egg and the Milk Bottle
What is inquiry?
 Inquiry is a teaching method that engages
learners in authentic investigations in which
they identify problems, ask questions, propose
solutions, make predictions, design
procedures, collect, and organize data, and
draw conclusions.
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What is inquiry - Details
 A teaching strategy that aims to teach learners
how to conduct investigations and to use and
assess evidence in order to answer questions
or solve problems.
 Primarily aims to develop learners’ higher
order and critical thinking skills. Content
provides a context for developing and
practicing thinking skills. Content and thinking
are inseparable.
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What is inquiry-Details
 A “genuine” problem is essential for the
success of inquiry teaching in developing
learners’ thinking skills:
 Learners (and preferably the teacher) do not
know and have no access to “the” or “an”
answer. They have to reach conclusions based
only on their investigations and their data
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What is inquiry-Details
 A “genuine” problem (that lends itself to
investigation) guarantees that learners (and
their teacher) will have authentic experiences
(similar to those of researchers) in assessing
the validity of various claims, and adjudicating
between contradictory claims concerning a
certain phenomenon
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Inquiry steps
 Step 1. Framing The Investigation
 Step 2: Designing the Investigation
 Step 3: Collecting and Presenting Data
 Step 4: Analyzing and Interpreting Results
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Activity 3
 Title: How many points are touching?
 Materials: A bobby pin (hair pin) for each pair
of participants.
 Question: Where is it easier to feel the tip of
a pin touching your skin, on your hand or near
you shoulder?
 Hypothesis: What is your hypothesis?
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Procedure
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Ask the subject of the experiment to hold out his/her
hand with palm up and close his or her eyes
Divide the length of the hand and arm into 20 equal
intervals
Randomly touch the hand or arm with either one tip of
two tips
Ask the subject of the experiment if he is being touched
with one or two tips.
Circle the correct or incorrect responses in the following
table.
After you have finished colleting data switch roles and
repeat the activity.
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Follow up questions
 Where was it easier to tell how many tips were touching?
 Why did we make more mistakes the higher up the arm the
pin was touched to the skin?
 What makes our touch sense more sensitive?
 Where would a cut in the skin hurt most?
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Hypothesis testing
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What pattern can you get from looking at all the results?
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Was your hypothesis confirmed and rejected? What
evidence do you have for your decision?
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General inquiry model
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Identifying a question or problem
Forming hypotheses
Gathering data
Assessing hypotheses
Generalizing
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Good Inquiry Questions
 It may have more than one answer
 It can be studied/ It has a possible answer
 There is data available or can be collected
about it.
 Others might find it useful or beneficial.
 It is conSEDely and exactly phrased.
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Good inquiry questions-examples
 Do roses that are kept in the light 24 hours per day grow taller
than those that are kept in the light 8 hours a day?
 Which frozen liquid melts the fastest: water, milk, or soda
pop? or Which liquid evaporates the fastest?
 Does your pulse rate increase or decrease after listening to
music?
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Good inquiry questions
 Do batteries stored in the freezer power a toy car longer than
those stored at room temperature?
 Do pumpkins that weigh 5 kilograms or more or more contain
more seeds than those that weigh less than 5 kilograms?
 Does the size of the wheels on a toy car affect the distance it
travels?
 Does the temperature of water affect how fast salt crystals (or
sugar crystals) melt?
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"Not Good" inquiry questions
 What causes dew?
 How is igneous rock formed?
 How does dishwashing soap clean away oil?
 What did the Tyrannosaurus Rex eat?
 What keeps a satellite in orbit around a planet?
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The General Inquiry Model
1. Identifying a question or problem
 The T, the Ss or both generate a problem
 The problem is genuine and relevant to Ss’
interests and/or needs (or current/future content)
 The problem is discussed, clarified, and defined
through discussion
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The General Inquiry Model (cont’d)
2. Forming hypotheses
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Ss suggest tentative solutions (hypotheses) to the
problem
Initially all hypotheses are accepted. Then the
hypotheses are discussed and assessed for
relevance and their verifiability with evidence
One or a few hypotheses are selected for
investigation
The tentative nature of hypotheses is emphasized
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The General Inquiry Model (cont’d)
3. Forming hypotheses
 Ss suggest tentative solutions (hypotheses) to the
problem
 Initially all hypotheses are accepted. Then the
hypotheses are discussed and assessed for
relevance and their verifiability with evidence
 One or a few hypotheses are selected for
investigation
 The tentative nature of hypotheses is emphasized
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The General Inquiry Model (cont’d)
4. Assessing hypotheses
 Ss discuss and analyze their data
 Ss assess the validity of their tentative hypotheses
based on the collected evidence
 The logic of hypothesis testing is highlighted
(prove/disprove vs. lend/detract support) and the
value of hypotheses (even the ones rejected) in
guiding investigations is emphasized.
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The General Inquiry Model (cont’d)
5. Generalizing
 Ss discuss whether and to what extent their
conclusions can be generalized
 Valid generalizations are drawn
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Activity 4
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Title: Why does popcorn pop?
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Procedure:
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Works in groups of 4
What is your hypothesis?
Design an experiment to test your hypothesis
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Herron Scale
Evaluating the Level of Inquiry
Level
Problem
Procedure
Solution
0
X
X
X
1
X
X
2
X
3
Activity 5
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Title: The heavy newspaper!
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Procedure:
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I will use the thick piece of wood to deliver a strong
blow to the piece of plywood hanging from the edge
of the table.
“What will happen?” in what direction will the
newspaper fly? To the front? To the back?”
“Think-Pair-Share” this question. Ask them to
explain their prediction.
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Explanation
 The plywood breaks because the downward force from the blow
of the hammer (or piece of wood) is counteracted by the
downward force due to atmospheric pressure acting on the
newspaper
 Atmospheric pressure is caused by the weight of the air above
the surface of the Earth.
 Pressure is defined as force per unit area: Pressure (P) = Force
(F) / Area (A). The force in this case is caused by the weight of
the air above the surface of the Earth. The larger the surface
area, the larger the force due to atmospheric pressure
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Activity 5
 Title: The efficient diver
 Procedure:
 What will happen if I squeeze the
bottle in different places
 Observe carefully what happens and write
down your observations.
 Use the Think-Pair-Share strategy to and
explain their observations
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Explanation
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Squeezing the bottle increases the pressure in the water and
compresses the air inside the pen top. This increases the mass
of the dropper but the volume stays the same, therefore its
density increases. Note the following:
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An object with a density less than that of a fluid will float in
that fluid and an object with a density more than that of a
fluid will sink in that fluid.
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Pascal's law: Pascal's law states that when there is an
increase in pressure at any point in a confined fluid, there is
an equal increase at every other point in the container.
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Question
 Describe the teaching strategy I used in the
previous activities.
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Predict Observe Explain (POE)
Step 1: Predict
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Ask the learners to write independently their prediction of what
will happen.
Ask them what they think they will see and why they think
this.
Step 2: Observe
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Carry out the demonstration.
Allow time to focus on observation.
Ask learners to write down what they do observe.
Step 3: Explain
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Ask learners to amend or add to their explanation to take
account of the observation.
After learners have committed their explanations to paper,
discuss their ideas together.
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Predict - Observe - Explain (POE)
POE can be used for:
 finding out learners' initial ideas;
 providing teachers with information
about learners’ thinking;
 generating discussion;
 motivating learners to want to explore
the concept;
 Generating investigations.
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Activity 6
 Materials:
 A round balloon
 Two small plastic or glass cups (with a smooth rim).
 Procedure
 Blow up the balloon about one third way.
 Hold one cup in each hand. Hold the cups against
opposite sides of the balloon (while the balloon is in
the mouth) and blow further (until about twice the
size).
 Let go of the two cups.
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Activity 6
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Activity 6
 What concepts were derived from this activity?
 What other examples can you think of?
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Learning Cycle
Exploration
 Learners experience objects and events, discover
patterns and relationships, and are not given answers or
labels
Term introduction
 Learners determine relationships among objects and
events and teacher helps learners construct appropriate
labels or provides the labels
Application
 Learners apply their knowledge of a given concept to
other situations and teacher encourages Learners to
discover examples to illustrate the concept or concepts
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Working With Circuits
 Work in groups of 4 to change the activity into
a learning cycle laboratory.
 When you finish, one of you will present the
activity you designed to the other groups
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Activity 7
 Title: Electricity
 Procedure:
 You will need two dry cells two light bulbs, and
several pieces of wire.
 Use one wire, one dry cell, to light one bulb. Draw your
set-up (s)
 Use two dry cells, and several wires to light one bulb.
Draw your set-up (s).
 Use two dry cells and several wires to light two bulbs.
Draw your set-up (s).
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Challenge
 What is the internal structure of the light
bulb
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Learning cycle
 Research has shown that the learning cycle is
an efficient model that can be used at all
educational levels.
 Two issues however, are missing from the
model:
 Engagement
 Evaluation
 Thus the 5 E model was developed
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5E Model
 Engagement
 Exploration
 Explanation (or
term introduction)
 Extension (or
application)
 Evaluation
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Engage
Activity which will focus student’s
attention, stimulate their thinking, and
access prior knowledge.
Explore
Activity which gives students time to think
and investigate/test/make
deSEDions/problem solve, and collect
information.
Explain
Activity which allows students to
analyze their exploration. Student’s
understanding is clarified and modified
through a reflective activity.
Extend
Activity which expands and solidifies
student thinking and/or applies it to a
real-world situation.
Evaluate
Activity which allows the teacher to assess
student performance and/or understandings
of concepts, skills, processes, and
applications.
Comparison of Learning Cycle and 5E
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Engagement
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Exploration
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Exploration
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Term introduction
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Explanation (or term
introduction)
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Evaluation
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Extension (or application)
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Evaluation
Group discussion
 How do you transform the learning cycle
activities we performed into 5E model
activities?
 How do evaluate inquiry activities?
 Rubrics
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Rubric
Activity 8
 Why can a person lie down on a bed of nails and not be
injured?
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Explanation
 The explanation of this phenomenon is related to the fact that
the force per unit area of skin (i.e., pressure) is what
determines if a nail will pierce the skin.
 The force is determined by the weight of the person lying on the
bed of nails.
 The area is determined by the effective area of the tip of the
nail, or nails, in contact with the skin.
 When a 'bed' of nails is used, the same force produced by the
weight of the body is distributed over perhaps hundreds of
nails. Therefore, the force applied to any one nail is
correspondingly reduced, with the result that the force per unit
area at the tip of any one nail will be below the level required to
pierce the skin. Since this applies to all the nails in the bed, no
nail then penetrates the skin.
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Activities 9 - 13
 Title:
Can you boil water in a paper cup?
 Title:
Why are the raisins dancing?
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Teaching Science with Discrepant
Events
 A discrepant event is a science activity that can create
cognitive dissonance in the mind of a learner.
 A discrepant event provides the learner with an opportunity
to think critically in order to solve a problem
 There is an element of surprise in the science activity as the
students are watching attentively
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Teaching Science with Discrepant Events
 A discrepant event motivates students to think beyond the
obvious
 It helps children employ their prior knowledge in
resolving the conflict.
 While actively engaged in exploring a discrepant event,
students have an opportunity to utilize some or all of the
science process skills.
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Teaching Science with Discrepant Events
Suggestions for presenting discrepant events:
 Let students replicate the discrepant event. Let them work in
groups of 2-4 students.
 Ask the students to think and write down their ideas and possible
solutions to the inconsistency created by the demonstration
 Assess students’ prior knowledge by using a verbal questioning
technique. Use variety of questions. Remember Bloom’s
Taxonomy.
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Teaching Science with Discrepant Events
 Watch out for students’ misconceptions.
 Your questions should represent all levels of Bloom’s
Taxonomy
 Don’t be so anxious to provide the answer to the discrepant
event right away.
 Provide many opportunities for students to experience
success.
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The Futures Wheel
 The futures wheel is a teaching technique that
encourages students to think creatively in exploring the
implications of a particular issue or event.
 There are no right answers when completing a futures
wheel, and no deSEDion-making occurs.
 It is used to analyze issues in preparation for deSEDionmaking. Students look at an event, experience or
deSEDion and ask "What might happen if...?"
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Objectives of a Future Wheel
Students will be able to:
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Understand that every deSEDion, technological, or scientific
development has numerous effects.
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Develop a futures wheel to explore the effects of a deSEDion,
scientific, or technological development.
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Recognize the value of the futures wheel as a tool for thinking
about the effects of environmental deSEDion, scientific and
technology developments.
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Conducting a futures wheel activity
1.
Explain that every event has an impact on other
events or factors. Distribute the handout and show the
students how the handout is interpreted beginning at
the center circle and proceeding outward.
2.
Divide the class into groups of four to six students.
Tell the students that they are to select a possible
environmental deSEDion, future scientific or
technological development as the subject for their
futures wheel.
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Conducting a futures wheel activity (Cont’d)
3.
Next students should ask themselves
•
"What might happen if...?"
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Each group should come up with three to five
answers to this question.
•
Explain that these first responses are called
the first-order connections.
•
A circle should be drawn around each
response, and a single line should connect
these responses to the central event.
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Conducting a futures wheel activity (Cont’d)
4.
Then each group should asks "What might
happen if...?" about each of the first-order
connections.
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A double line should connect each secondorder connection with the first-order
connection that caused it.
As students work, remind them to thing of
both positive and negative connections.
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Conducting a futures wheel activity (Cont’d)
5.
The diagram produced by the group then is
shared with all the class and, if possible,
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A common futures wheel is drawn for the
whole class.
It is worth noting here that a futures wheel
may be used to analyze any issue in school
situations and in everyday situations.
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Major Elements of Constructivist Learning
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Activating prior knowledge
Acquiring knowledge
Understanding knowledge
Using knowledge
Reflecting on knowledge
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The role of the teacher in inquiry
 Assumes the role of a facilitator of the inquiry
process
 Plans the various aspects of the lesson and
guides learners in their investigations
 Insures that learners are given ample time to
conduct their investigations and go through the
whole inquiry process
 Encourages learners to reflect on the various
aspects of their investigations
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