Tornado Inquiry and Rainbow Inquiry

Tornado Inquiry

 

Rainbow Inquiry

We recently completed two inquiries that some of our students were working on.  One inquiry was about tornadoes, and the other inquiry was about rainbows.  The intention of this post is to share with you some information about both inquiries, the successes that we experienced, and also what we learned and can improve on for next time.  Please note that this was our second attempt at Inquiry-Based Learning.  

Tornado Inquiry

Original Inquiry Question: How does a tornado spin around?

 

Students who worked on this inquiry learned about what a tornado is and how it forms.  Through their investigations, these students learned new vocabulary about tornadoes such as vortex and funnel.  The students successfully created a visual representation of a tornado using a variety of materials.  This project required students to experiment with different materials, to work as a team and to problem solve.  Finally, the students learned about hail.  Through an experiment using salt, water, and string, the students attempted to create salt crystals to represent hail.

Rainbow/Colour Inquiry

Original Inquiry Question: How many colours are in a rainbow?

 

Students who worked on this inquiry explored what a rainbow is and how it forms.  Using a variety of materials such as a CD, mirror, and a magnifying glass, the students attempted to re-create a rainbow.  The students also created a visual representation of a rainbow using different coloured leaves.  Our rainbow inquiry soon turned into a colour inquiry when students began to create colours using the primary colours.  Students mixed coloured water, paint and play-dough in a variety of experiments to create new colours while also learning new vocabulary.  These activities also helped students further develop their small muscle control.  Finally, using materials found in the classroom, the students created a variety of posters to represent different colours.

Successes

A number of successes were experienced through these two inquiries.  Ms. Marrella and I often asked the inquiry groups to present new discoveries, experiments, and creative work to the whole class.  We noticed that students were excited and felt a sense of accomplishment when presenting to their peers.  In turn, we also noticed that the rest of the class was interested to hear these mini presentations, and wanted to test out these discoveries for themselves during their activity time.  Most importantly, the students who were involved in the inquiries seemed to be engaged throughout the process.  Ms. Marrella and I noticed that students were happy to be part of an inquiry group and didn't feel that their activity time was cut short.    

What We Learned

Initially, when we started these inquiries we had half the class working on the tornado inquiry and half the class working on the rainbow inquiry.  Ms. Marrella and I quickly realized that this wasn’t working and reduced the group size to five students.  A smaller group allowed students to have a better experience.  When the inquiries began, Ms. Marrella and I outlined a plan of what we thought the students would learn.  We were pleasantly surprised at how much more the students learned, and how much inquiries change and progressed from start to finish.  Finally, we learned that it is important to use a variety of assessments to document student learning during an inquiry.  One type of assessment just isn't enough.  We found ourselves using rubrics, pictures, checklists and lots and lots of observation notes.