INQUIRYLEARNINGPLANNER

UNITTITLE:EducationalResearchProject(ERP)

LEVEL
5/6

TEAM
MaryanneHeeps
MaryBuffon

UNDERSTANDINGS:

TERM
4

DURATION
10weeks

FOCUSQUESTIONS:

Linkingpersonalintereststothefourspecific
learningintentions:
Wearelearningtoplanappropriate
investigationmethodstosolveproblems
Wearelearningtopredict,clarifyand
question
Wearelearningtousedataandgraphsto
representanddescribepatternsand
observations
Wearelearningtoobserve,measureand
recorddata.

Whichlearningintention/sareyoulinking
yourprojecttoo?
Howhaveyoudonethis?
Howcanyourecordandthenshowyourdata?
Whatisyourexperimenttestingfor?

KEYCONCEPTS:
Science
Data
Graphs
Personalinterestswithafocusonascience
experiment

ThinkingProcesses

CommunicationSkills

PersonalLearning

Interpersonal
Development

Challengeothersandourselves Presentknowledgeand
Todevelopapositiveattitude
withdeepthinkingand
understandingandengagewith andresilienceespeciallyin
questioning.
arangeofcommunication
timesofdifficultywhile
formssuchasoral,written,
learning.(Wanttosucceed)
visual,diariesandthroughthe
Drawconclusionsabout
useoftechnologyincluding
personalintereststhrough
PowerPointpresentations,
observationandrecordingof
photographsandvideoclips.
informationfrompractical
experiencesandprevious
knowledge/understandings.

Appropriate,positiveand
effectiveengagementwith
peersinpairsand/orgroups.
Studentscanworktogetherto
identifyandsolveproblemsas
ateam.
Acknowledgethestrengthsin
othersbyplacingonthe
affirmationschart.

RESOURCES

ThinkingHatsOn reflectionactivitysheet
IndividualmaterialsforpersonalinterestandindividualEducationalResearchProjects
Makingcoloursexperiment
o 3torches
o Scissors
o Rubberbands
o Blue,greenandredcellophane
o Darkenedroom
Howdoeslightmakedifferentcoloursreading
Howdoeslightmakedifferentcoloursworksheet

- Sequence that flowed from

one session to the next
- Tuning In
- Finding Out
- Sorting Out
- Going Further

TUNINGIN

Lesson1:
Studentsworkacrossthefouryear5/6classroomstolearnanddiscussthefourlearningintentionsassociated
andlinkedtothetopicofscienceforthistermseducationalresearchproject.Scienceisthefocusforterm4s
ERPswiththestudents tryingtolinktheirintereststothesefourlearningintentions:
Wearelearningtoplanappropriateinvestigationmethodstosolveproblems
Wearelearningtopredict,clarifyandquestion
Wearelearningtousedataandgraphstorepresentanddescribepatternsandobservations
Wearelearningtoobserve,measureandrecorddata
Thisgoesoverfourlessons,witheachteachertakingoneofthefourlearningintentions.Theclassesthen
spend1x1hourlessonworkingoneachofthefourlearningintentions.Therefore,intheendeachstudent
wouldhavecompletedeachofthelearningintentionswithfourdifferentteachers.Therefore,thistuningin
lessongoesover4hours/4sessions.
Thingstodiscussineachofthelearningintentions:
Wearelearningtoplanappropriateinvestigationmethodstosolveproblems
Assistinginthedevelopingandbuildingofideasfortheirexperiment.Whatthistestsfor,howthey
willdisplaythedataandhowthiswillassistinbuildingunderstandingforthemselvesandthe
audienceinregardstotheireducationalresearchprojecttopic.
Wearelearningtopredict,clarifyandquestion
Students willlearnoftheimportanceofpredictingatthebeginningandthroughouttheirproject,as
wellastheimportanceofclarifyingandaskingquestionsandhowthisassistwithdevelopingadeeper
understandingforthemselvesandtheaudiencewatchingtheirexhibitontheireducationalresearch
project.
Wearelearningtousedataandgraphstorepresentanddescribepatternsandobservations
StudentsarerequiredtocompleteanexperimentfortheirERPthattests/evaluateanaspectoftheir
topic.Theyarethenrequiredtodisplaytheirdatausingarangeofdifferentgraphsandwaysof
displayingdatatodescribepatternsandobservations.
Studentswilllearnofdifferentgraphsthatmayassistthemindisplayingthedatatheyhavefound.
Wearelearningtoobserve,measureandrecorddata
Studentswilllearnofdifferentwaystomeasureandrecorddatafromtheirexperiment.

FINDINGOUT
Howcanwe:Takestudentsbeyondwhattheyalreadyknow?
Challengetheirideas,beliefsandattitudes?Enablethemtouseskills
andknowledgetocollectnewinformation?Providearangeof
experiencestodevelopunderstandings?

SORTINGOUT
Howwillstudentssortout,organise,representandpresentwhatthey
havefoundout?Howcantheycommunicateandexpresswhatthey
know?Howwilltheyusepreferredwaystodemonstratetheir
knowledge,skillsandvalues?

Lesson2:
Linkscienceunitwithothercurriculumareas.Inthis
lesson,studentswillbelinkingsciencewithwriting.
Asscienceisthetopicfortheireducationalresearch
projects,studentswillbeconductingtwoscience
experimentsduringliteracy/writingandarerequired
towritetheseupasanExperiment.Theclasswill
besplitintotwogroups.Thefirstgroupwillbe
completingtheMakingcolours experiment,whilst
thesecondgroupwillbecompletingthereading
Howdoeslightmakedifferentcolours and
completingthisworksheet.
Reflection
Gatherstudents backtothefloor.Haveoneperson
fromeachgroupreportbacktotheclassaboutwhat
theyhavereadandhowtheirgroupworkedtogether.
Askquestionssuchas:
Howcouldyouimproveonthatnexttime?
Whatcouldyoudodifferently?
Canyouexplainwhatyouhaveread?

Lesson4:
Students arerequiredtocomeupwithanexperiment
thatrelatestotheirproject,whichusesthelearning
intentionswhilstpresentingtheirfindingsfromthe
experimentusingdata,graphs,surveysetc.Students
willthenusetheMyExperiment sheettocomplete
theirquestion,theequipmenttheywillbeusing(both
listinganddrawing),themethod(whatdid/willthey
do?)andtheirprediction(whattheythinkwill
happen).Studentsthengoonwiththeireducational
researchproject.
Reflection
Come together as a class and participate in
reflectioncircles.
Havestudentsanswerthequestions:
o What is your interest/topic for your
EducationalResearchProject?
o Haveyoucomeupwithanexperiment
foryourproject?
o Canyoudescribeyourexperimentto
theclass?
o Whatwillyoubetestingfor?

Lesson3:
Linkingscienceunitwithothercurriculumareaswill
beevidentthroughoutthisterm.Inthislesson,
studentswillbehavingnewreadingbooksforboth
guidedandreciprocalreadingwhichwillallbe
sciencebased,nonfictionbooks.Students complete
avocabchartatthestartofeachlessonbasedona
text.Thisterm,eachofthevocabchartsandtextswill
beassociatedwithscience.Studentswillthenworkin
fourgroupsduringreadinggroupasfollows:
RedGroup:Teachergroupforguidedreading.
GreenGroup:IndependentReading
*RedandGreengroupswapafter15minutes
BlueGroup:Usesciencetextgivento
completereadingstrategyactivity.Forthis
lessonitwillbesummarisingand
paraphrasing.Studentswillreadthetextand
usetheMainideasortsheettohelpwritea
summary.
YellowGroup:Usesciencetextprovidedto
completereadingstrategyactivity.Forthis
lessonitwillbesummarisingand
paraphrasing.Studentswillreadthetextand
usetheMainideasortsheettohelpwritea
summary.
Reflection
Havestudents returntothefloor.Onepersonfrom
eachgroupreportsbacktotheclassaboutwhatthey
havereadandhowtheirgroupworkedtogether.Ask
questionssuchas:
Howcouldyouimproveonthatnexttime?
Whatcouldyoudodifferently?
Canyouexplainwhatyouhaveread?

Lesson5:
Studentswillconductexperimentsthroughoutthis
lesson.Ifstudentscannotconducttheseatschool,
theywillstillparticipateandhavetocompletetheir
experimentpriortoorafterthislesson.Studentswill
thenberequiredtofinishtheirMyExperiment
sheet.Theywouldhavepreviouslycompletethe
question,equipment,method,andtheirpredictionof
whattheythinkwillhappen.Inthislesson,students
needtocompletetheresults,sowhatdidhappenand
whydidthishappensections.Studentsarethen
requiredtogobackthroughtheirMyExperiment
sheetandaddanyequipment,orextrastepstheyhad
developedwhilstcompletingtheexperiment.
Ifstudentsfinishthistask,theywillthenberequired
toputtheirexperiment(video,photos,written,visual)
intotheirproject.Studentsareremindedthatthey
musthaveanexperimentandthismustbetested
beforetheexpo.

Reflection:
Gatherstudentsbacktothefloor.Participatein
reflectioncircleswhereeachstudentshareswhattheir
experimentis,howtheirexperimentwent,theresults
thattheyfoundandwhytheybelievetheyfoundthis.
Encouragestudentsthatthisisagoodtimetopractice
presentingtheirexperimentsbeforetheExpoison.

GOINGFURTHER
Howcanweextendandbroadentheunit?Whatotherperspectivesordimensionscanweexplore?Whatarethewayswhichstudentscan
negotiatetheirownpersonalinquiries?

Lesson6:
StudentstocompleteThinkingHatsOn reflectionactivitysheet.Throughoutthisreflectiveactivity,
students canthinkbackovertheirlearningandanswerquestionssuchas:
Howdoyoufeelaboutwhatorhowyouhavelearned?
Whataresomeofthebestthingsaboutwhat/howyouhavelearned?
Whatweresomeofthechallengesinthislearning?
Whatmightyoudodifferentlyorhowcouldyouimproveyourlearningnexttime?
Whathaveyoulearnedaboutyourselfasalearnerduringthistime?
Havestudents answereachofthesequestions,encouragedeepreflectivepractice.Thiswillprovidean
understandingofhowstudentslearned,positiveaspects,aspectstheycanimproveonandaspectstheyhave
learnedaboutthemselvesduringthistime.
Lesson7:
Therewillbeanexhibition/expoheldonWednesday10thDecemberforstudents topresenttheirindividualor
groupEducationalResearchProject.Initially,students willhavetosetuptheirownareawheretheydisplay
theirprojects.Students projectscanbepresentedinanywayofchoicebuttheremustbeanoralaspectto
theirprojectwheretheyorallypresenttheirproject.Students havepreviouslychosentopresenttheirprojects
usingposters,boardgames,PowerPointsandmanymorecreativeways.Oncestudentshavesetuptheir
personalareafortheirERP,thegrade3/4swillbecomingtowatchtheirpresentations.Studentsstayattheir
projectandpeoplethatareviewingwanderaroundtheclassroomtowatcheach.The3/4sarecomingto
watchtounderstandtheexpectationsinyear5/6,getideasandgainconfidenceaboutthefutureyears.After
themiddleunithavewatchedthepresentations,parents,teachersandspecialguestswillbecomingtoSt
PaulsPrimarySchooltoviewstudents presentations.

ASSESSMENTSUMMARY(ONGOING:FOR,ASandOFlearning)
Whatarethecumulativeandsummativeopportunitiesforassessment?Howcanteachersandstudentsmonitorprogress?Whatstrategiescanwe
usetocaterforvarianceinlearningstylesandprogress?Howcanweallowforexpectedandunexpectedoutcomes?Howcanweprovide
opportunitiesforself,peer,teacher,parentassessment?

INQUIRYSTAGE
TuningIn(Lesson1)

DESCRIPTION
Aschildrenareworkingthrough
theiractivities,theeducatoristo
roveandaskthechildrenprobing
questions.

PURPOSE
AS

Groupdiscussion/reflectionatthe OF
endofthelessonwillalsoinform
theeducatoroftheknowledgethat
thechildrenhavegained.

FindingOut(Lesson2)

Aschildrenareworkingthrough
theiractivities,theeducatoristo
roveandaskthechildrenprobing
questions.

AS

Groupdiscussion/reflectionatthe OF
endofthelessonwillalsoinform
theeducatoroftheknowledgethat
thechildrenhavegained.
FindingOut(Lesson3)

Groupdiscussion/reflectionatthe OF
endofthelessonwillalsoinform
theeducatoroftheknowledgethat
thechildrenhavegained.

SortingOut(Lesson4)

Aschildrenareworkingthrough
theiractivities,theeducatoristo
roveandaskthechildrenprobing
questions.

AS

Groupdiscussion/reflectionatthe OF
endofthelessonwillalsoinform
theeducatoroftheknowledgethat
thechildrenhavegained.
SortingOut(Lesson5)

Groupdiscussion/reflectionatthe OF
endofthelessonwillalsoinform
theeducatoroftheknowledgethat
thechildrenhavegained.

GoingFurther(Lesson6)

ThinkingHatsOn ActivitySheet
(reflectivepractice).Have
students thinkbackoverlearning
andanswerreflectivequestions.
Encouragedeepreflectivepractice.

AssessmentOFwhattheyhave
learnt,andassessmentFORwhat
needstobetaughtinfuturelessons
regardingthistopic.

GoingFurther(Lesson7)

Exhibition/Expo

Thepresentationisofanyformthe
studentschooseandthisisan
exampleofassessmentOF
learning.