Asking Questions
Goals:
- Develop an understanding of what it means for students to engage in “asking questions”
- Engage in the science practice of asking questions
- Explore how student engagement in this science practice progresses across grades
Agenda: |
Materials: |
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1. Asking Questions About Discrepant Events
The Task:
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The Instructional Leadership Science Practices website defines the practice of “asking questions” as:
Scientific questions lead to explanations of how the natural world works and can be empirically tested using evidence
When students engage in this science practice they:
Discussion Questions:
Scientific questions lead to explanations of how the natural world works and can be empirically tested using evidence
When students engage in this science practice they:
- Ask questions to develop or refine a model or explanations about the natural world
- Ask questions that can be answered using evidence from investigations or gathered by others
Discussion Questions:
- Do any of the discrepant event questions align with the definition of the science practice of “asking questions?” If yes, which one(s) and why? If no, why not?
- What do you feel is an advantage and/or a disadvantage of having students use the Question Sentence Starters handout to ask questions?
2. Snails Activity
The Context:
- This activity comes from the FOSS 7th grade unit on Diversity of Life. Before students observe the snails, they are asked to write what they already know about snails, and what they would like to learn about these organisms.
- If you want more information about the lesson from which this activity came from, see the Snails Lesson Plan handout
The Task:
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Source of image: Wikipedia
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*Note – Remember that this science practice entails students asking questions that can be empirically tested
The Task:
- With this definition in mind, work in small groups to sort the questions that you generated (both before and after the observations) into the categories of “testable questions” and “untestable questions”
Discussion Questions:
- What group (testable or untestable) did most of the questions that you generated fall under? Why do you think this is the case?
- Where there any questions that you found difficult to sort? What about these questions do you think made them challenging to sort?
3. Unpacking The Science Practice
Investigating Practices
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Sensemaking Practices
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Critiquing Practices
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From Appendix F of the NGSS:
Discussion Questions:
- Scientific questions can be driven by curiosity about the world; inspired by the predictions of a model, a theory, or findings from previous investigations; or stimulated by the need to solve a problem.
- Scientific questions are distinguished from other types of questions in that the answers lie in explanations supported by empirical evidence, including evidence gathered by others or through investigation.
- It is important to realize that asking a question also leads to involvement in another practice. For example, a student can ask a question about data that will lead to further analysis and interpretation.
Discussion Questions:
- What benefits do you think engaging in this science practice has for students?
- What do you think your students would find challenging about asking scientific (i.e. testable) questions? How could you help them with these challenges?
4. How Asking Questions Progresses Across Grades
The Task:
- How does their engagement in this science practice progress across the grade bands
being focused on?
Discussion Questions:
- Read the descriptions of “Asking Questions” for grades K-2 and grades 3-5 on the NSTA Science Practices Progression handout.
- Conduct a think-pair-share around the following questions:
- How does their engagement in this science practice progress across the grade bands
being focused on?
- Repeat the first two steps for grades 6-8 and grades 9-12.
Discussion Questions:
- In what ways did you engage in “asking questions” during the discrepant events and the snails activity?
- What questions do you still have about this science practice?
© 2016 Boston Public Schools Science Department