Unit 4: Design
Driving Question:
1. How do I design my own lab?
Objectives:
4. Develop their own inquiry lab activity based on an existing step-by-step lab
4.1 Familiarize yourself with a good example of an inquiry activity
4.2 Create a draft & get feedback
Before We Begin
Let’s take a moment to evaluate what we have covered so far. We began by reflecting on our own views of inquiry learning while setting up a familiar scenario: we have all been told we need to use inquiry methods, but many teachers lack the proper training to do so. In Unit 1, we worked to try and define what exactly inquiry is. Next, we examined the benefits of inquiry so that we had clear justification of why we are going through this process. In Unit 2, we helped each other work through some of the common difficulties with using inquiry in the classroom while getting a chance to share our own experiences. In Unit 3, we went over how to pick a good lab to begin to transition from cookbook styles labs to inquiry labs and also research and shared resources to help with the design process. In this, our final , unit we will actually go through the design process.
4.1 An Example
INTRODUCTION: Below I have uploaded two documents for you. The first one is a typical, cookbook style lab that I have used before in physics. The second lab is my updated lab I have made into an inquiry activity. I presented the questions for the students but allowed them choice in designing the procedure and in answering the questions. I followed the steps outlined in Figure 2 from Unit 3. Outlined below are the changes I made to my lab:
- Took away the materials list
- Changed the objectives into questions
- Added a situation
- Removed procedure
- Removed data tables
- Added discussion questions
[| Cookbook Style Lab: Work & Power]
[| Inquiry Lab: Work & Power]
4.2 Draft & Peer Review
INTRODUCTION:
ACTIVITY:
