I know what I said but this is good!!!

I know, I know... I did say that I wouldn't write as many posts but I think this is a good one. The thought occurred as I was chatting to a teacher about topics for science. The school are doing a range of smaller activities as well as ones the students have come up with (big yay for that!). We were chatting and I talked about 'doing' a topic -I can't remember what it was but it stopped me for a moment...

mentalfloss.com

Should we attempt to ensure our science programmes are driven by questions? I know that was a big hit with the good ol' problem solving days, where a term's unit had some 'big question', usually engineered by the teacher to be an effective one, followed by questions that the children wanted to find answers for. If I wanted to do something about insects. what if we had a conversation as a class just to talk about what we might like to find out and what we already know. You could write up the questions on post-it notes or better still, use padlet and save a tree! It could be that you hear a really good question that could sit at the top or fiddle with one or come up with one yourself.

The kiwi Praying Mantis... not that South African import one!
And yes, I'm that English import! From wikipedia.

One thing I love about teaching is the enthusiasm and buy-in from students. I know that we all like to get the kids starting the questions but, during lessons I've taught, I've thrown out a question and then watched groups rushing off to find possible answers. I might chuck out some ideas myself, not removing the onus of research from the children but expanding and enriching it! By having post-it notes (or padlet), we can still go over all our other questions. It might be through a reading task or watching a video and then answering the question (a great writing activity or record voices for an oral language activity!).

A Katipo Spider -something, I've never actually seen.
It might not be an insect, but it could be a bug? From tripsavvy.com

If  I was doing insects, perhaps I could ask them all "What's the difference between a beetle and a bug?"... "Is there a difference?"... What do we think?, our parents think?, others around the school?, and the science field?! The cool part is, as the students seek answers, they'll learn about communicating in science ("bugs are yucky and I don't like them" is a perfectly fine communication and one I might be caught saying (!), but it's not a science statement!); investigating in science as they observe various insects to see if they meet the specific criteria; understanding about science as students think about this field is investigated and shared with other scientists and the general public; and finally they may even explore some of those pest insects like the Pea Weevil that I heard on the radio this week had been wiped out -and we're the first country to do that! And now I'm wondering if it should have capital letters...

The Pea Weevil -devdiscourse.com

I just ticked off all the nature of science strands with one question! I'd revisit our big question often and even pop out a few of the smaller post-it notes ones too, especially if I know some students might have uncovered some answers! One thing I do like to do is let the children answer the question even if it is not quite right or even wrong! "Metal objects sink", "Sugar disappears in water", "shadows move as the sun moves through the sky" are all incorrect but scientists have got it all wrong too (I wrote a post about this a wee while ago). The danger would be only having that answer. Chat with the class -Do we still agree with this answer? No? You found out that your uncle's boat is metal and it floats (thank goodness!)... So how could we write our new answer? Some metal objects sink? Let's do some more investigation into this -what kind of objects?, is it the type of metal?, etc... 

The good ol' Slater found in many terrariums -poor thing! From Massey University.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now! Why not take a look at your "Monarch Butterfly" unit, and wonder about starting with a question?

Thanks for reading. As always, I welcome questions and comments!
Paul

PS: And yes, I went back through and added capital letters to the insect names!
PPS: Yes, there is a difference between bugs and beetles! Here's an interesting short link...