Background Knowledge Booster January 5, 2008
How to gain more depth in inquiry projects? Increase background knowledge. As a science teacher and I were collaborating on the Research Model, I showed her the latest title in the Scientist in the Field series. In this series, scientists doing fascinating research on such topics as trash, volcanoes, and tarantulas are presented with details of the routines of the scientists and the methods they employ. In keeping with the theme of research in the real world, she decided to recommend them to colleagues as resources for book discussions. We believe that making connections to the real world and telling a story should increase understanding. Increased understanding should make students more capable of formulating essential questions and seeing themselves as scientists. She plans to start some groups next week. Cool.
Hi MJ:
Four of us in our district are pursuing guided inquiry explorations for our professional development requirement. I’ve been digging up writings by Carol Kuhlthau, Ross Todd’s former colleague at Rutgers. Good stuff. But, what I wanted to share is that one the most interesting things I have noticed working with high school kids is their comment that “no one ever asked me to come up with my own questions to then find the answers”. For these kids, their prior research experience was limited to the teacher asking the questions and then the students looking up the answers. Thesis statement creation is just this side of torture for them. With much effort, after they come up with a good working thesis statement, they tend to agree with me that the rest of the project (research process) is actually OK, if not interesting. A good thesis statement is the difference between research and reporting.
Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process model:
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/information_search_process.htm
Search onward,
Jim Schneider
You are right about the importance of questioning. It is something we encourage all along in the process, even up to the end when you think about new questions you would like to explore beyond the present inquiry. Your research is only as good as the questions you ask.