TIPS
ON DEVELOPING AND CONDUCTING INQUIRY OR PROBLEM-BASED LESSONS
Jim
Winter and Janet Lanza
Arkansas
STRIVE
Univ.
of Arkansas at Little Rock
1. For your first
attempts, choose a subject that you are very familiar with.
2. For your first
attempts, use equipment and techniques that are simple and
reliable.
3. Identify the
possible questions/hypotheses in inquiry lessons that students
might formulate--there should be at least several possible
questions.
4. Identify the
variables involved in the lesson and the measurements that can be
made.
5. Make sure that the
variables can be measured with the equipment available and
measured consistently.
6. Minimize lecture to
the students.
7. Allow ample time and
opportunity at the beginning of the lesson for students to
"brainstorm" and plan.
8. Build in
opportunities in the lesson for students to make decisions and be
creative; e.g., on hypotheses, experimental groups, or
approaches.
9. Place the major
opportunity for student creativity at the beginning of the
lesson: e.g., allow students to develop questions and approaches.
10. In problem-based
lessons, you must create a question that is complex enough to
allow different approaches.
11. In problem-based
lessons, use real-world examples, situations, or tasks to
generate greater student interest.
12. If your lesson must
use prescribed procedures and exact analytical steps, then you
must allow students to develop the questions or experimental
design.
13. If you give the
students the question or problem, then you must allow the
students to develop the approach.
14. Design lessons to
be conducted by groups of students (e.g., 2-4 students).
15. Develop rubrics to
evaluate student performance.
16. Your rubrics should
measure student creativity and problem solving.
17. Use alternative
assessment methods rather than standard tests; e.g., require
posters, oral presentations, or students to solve problems
similar to the lesson.
18. Give students the
rubrics at the beginning of the lesson so that they understand
what is required.
19. Resist telling
students answers or approaches during the lesson.
20. Ask questions of
the students to assess their understanding and help them get on
track.
21. Your role should be
as a facilitator--direct students to resources.
22. Make sure that
students design a control for their experiment; i.e., control vs.
experimental group(s).
22. It is important to
restrict the number of variables that students in a group are
measuring because of time constraints and because relationships
among variables can become too complex to analyze meaningfully.
Students should only manipulate one (independent) variable.
23. Make sure that each
group's experimental design will allow them to collect enough
data to analyze. Replicates are important in controlling
variability in experiments and in providing data that can be
analyzed statistically (means, ranges, standard deviations, etc).
24. Be prepared to
extend the lesson or connect the students' results to new topics
or concepts.
25. Add inquiry or
problem-based lessons slowly to your courses until you develop
confidence and experience.