Young children are “super curious,” said Matt Krehbiel, director of science for Achieve, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students graduate from high school ready to start college or to pursue a career. “We want them to be able to harness that curiosity to help them make sense of the world around them.” That is one of the reasons WPS decided to update the science resources for Prek-12th grade.
FOSS( Full Option Science System) a new adoption this year, for grades 1-5, has open our elementary students’ eyes to the wonderment of science. This resource allows students to have a more hands-on approach to learning. One of the things that FOSS stresses in elementary science is “Active Investigation”. Active investigation are practices that keep active investigation vigorous and productive. Active investigation contains: Context: questioning and planning. Active investigation requires focus. The context of an inquiry can be established with a focus question or challenge from the teacher or in some cases, from students. This might start with a teacher demonstration or presentation. Then students are challenged to plan an investigation. This clarification of context and purpose results in a more productive investigation. Activity: doing and observing. In the practice of science, scientists put things together and take things apart, observe systems and interactions, and conduct experiments. This is the core of science—active, firsthand experience with objects, organisms, materials, and systems in the natural and designed worlds. In the FOSS Program, students engage in the same processes as scientists. Students often conduct investigations in collaborative groups of four, with each student taking a role and contributing to the effort. The active investigations in FOSS are cohesive and build on each other and the readings to lead students to a comprehensive understanding of concepts. Through the investigations, students gather meaningful data. Data management: recording and organizing. Data accrue from observation, both direct (through the senses) and indirect (mediated by instrumentation). During and after work with materials, students record data in their notebooks. Data recording is the first of several kinds of student writing. Students then organize data so that the data will be easier to think about. Analysis: discussing and writing explanations. The most important part of an active investigation is extracting its meaning. This constructive process involves logic, discourse, and existing knowledge. Students share their explanations for phenomena, using evidence generated during the investigation to support their ideas. They conclude the active investigation by writing a summary in their science notebooks of their learning as well as questions raised during the activity. Alright enough about inner workings of the resource….How do the students like it? They love it!! There have be rave reviews from many students. Take a look at some students as they participate in active investigation with meal worms in Ms. Marcucci’s Science class
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