Always Question, Always Wonder

Always Question, Always Wonder

Wow!  It’s hard to believe that we have already been back in our classrooms for almost three weeks now.  I hope that you found time to rest on your Winter

Break. A lot has been happening in my classroom since we started back a few weeks ago.  I am excited to share that my students and I are jumping into piloting a new science program. This is a process that is completely new to me and I wanted my students to feel like they are just as involved in the reviewing process as I am.  Before we started, I had a conversation with my class about what we would be working on for the next few weeks. While most of the students were excited to try something new, I think the real excitement came the day the supplies were delivered and they learned that we would be using Hot Wheels in some of our inquiry lessons.  There were many shouts of joy heard around the room that day.

“The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.” ― Sir William Lawrence Bragg

Four days a week, we spend about forty-five minutes to one hour working on lessons from the program we are piloting.  Here is a list of some of the positive things I have noticed in my classroom so far:

1. Engagement - As I mentioned already, my students are really excited when it’s time for science.  Science is all around us, so it makes my heart sing when I hear how happy they are.

2. Learning through Inquiry-  Students encounter the phenomenon at the beginning of each model and are given an introduction to the culminating STEM project.  Each lesson within the module follows the 5 E model- Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. This gives students plenty of opportunities for hands-on inquiries.  By far, this is the most exciting days for students. Not every day has an inquiry lesson but we often refer back to what we learned on those days and apply it to the rest of the lessons. After each lesson, we reflect on what we learned and how to apply that knowledge to the culminating STEM project.  

3. Stem Career Connections- There is a section of the lesson that is connected to different careers in science and engineering.  We have been able to highlight different career paths within the realm of science. I love that students are able to see different types of scientist and think about what type of career in science might interest them.  

4. Questioning- This is the biggest take away I have had so far.  All of this inquiry learning has to lead itself to more and more questions.  Sometimes more questions about the phenomenon then we have time to figure out answers to.  I think that’s the best part! Students are now thinking about the world around them in a new way.  They are asking questions and trying to make sense of it all. They are driving their own learning!

“Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.” -Sally Ride

As we continue on this pilot journey, I hope to continue to foster a sense of wonder in all my students.  I am blown away by what they bring to the table each day and I can’t wait to hear what questions they have about the world around them in the future.  

Learning and teaching with grace,

Alina