Guided Inquiry in Action

I really enjoyed the experiments I asked my students to perform this week. We’ve been talking about motion and all vocabulary attached all week, but putting words into action was a whole different experience for both me and the students.

We worked on 2 experiments; the first was to calculate the speed and velocity of foam balls falling from different inclinations. The second was to test the effect of mass on the momentum of different materials of balls of the same size. During both experiments I was surprised at the accuracy of students’ record keeping and the enthusiasm they had, but I cannot blame them, it was a lot of fun. The experiments were simple so the results were clear.

I was not one to use ‘guided inquiry’ and would always use the first two levels of inquiry. But after this experience and both myself and the students enjoying and learning a great deal, I have decided to let them explore more on their own under my supervision, rather than ask them to follow my guidelines all the time. The experiment has really achieved its goal both for my students and namely myself. I have learned just as much about motion and teaching.

If I had to add one more thing to make this experience more engaging, then I would have to say, I will let the students explore even further with different sized objects, combined objects, and allowing these objects to actually collide with a surface and see their effect on both surface and object. I might actually try that this week. I am just as excited as I know they will be if I tell them to go ‘explore’!