Rationale for Wisconsin Teacher Development and Licensure Standard Four

This semester I am taking Science in Elementary Curriculum, a class which focuses on methods for teaching science. I have been exposed to a way of teaching science that I had never heard of before: inquiry based science. While the concept of inquiry isnt unfamiliar, it was in terms of how to teach science. Inquiry based science focuses on helping students perform actions and ask questions like scientists would in their careers. This method of teaching allows students to use more critical thinking skills as students are typically engaged in higher levels of Blooms taxonomy. I chose a lesson plan that I am currently working on to show my novice level of understanding of teaching inquiry based science. As I work towards another draft of this lesson, my conceptual understanding will continue to grow. Wisconsin Teacher Development and Licensure Standard Four revolves around a teacher being able to have varied roles within instructions and that the teacher can develop learning to encourage critical thinking skills. Through inquiry based science, students are working to develop testable questions and a plan to investigate possible answers. In this lesson plan, students are shown cooking clips from You Tube as inspiration for their testable questions and investigations. The feedback comments within the lesson plan show that I am working to embrace this method of teaching. Instead of being just a lecturer, this plan allows the teacher to investigation coach and an audience member during presentations. Knowing how student motivation can influence behavior is one of the performances of the Alverno Education Department Outcome of the Major of conceptualization. Through this inquiry lessons, the students are developing their own testable questions. In having that input students will have more ownership of the classroom activities, and will be more engaged in the activity. When the students are actively engaged in the learning process, they are more likely to stay on task.