Rationale

On February 4, 2021, I planned a lesson that incorporated a piece of inquiry learning. My

central concept of learning for this lesson was solving two-step algebraic equations. To close my

lesson, I asked the students to write and solve an equation after being given a word problem.

Thus far, the students have only written and solved a two-step equation after being given the

equation in word form. It is important to ask the students to attempt this before showing them

how to do it because it makes the subject matter more meaningful for the them and gets them

thinking critically. By asking my students to write and solve a two-step equation after being

given a word problem before I introduce this concept to them, I am able to see what students

already understand the concept and what students will benefit from the lesson. This will also help

me plan for future teaching. It is important for students to participate in inquiry-based learning

because it helps them make connections to what they are learning, gain a deeper understanding,

and show proficiency in important life-skills that are needed for outside of the classroom. In

addition to my lesson plan, I have also attached a sample of the worksheet that the students and I

went over together during the class period. My incorporation of technology during this lesson

also made the subject matter meaningful for the students because they were able to visually see

all of the steps as either I or another student explained them. I took advantage of the feature to

write in color and highlight to differentiate between each of the steps and emphasize the solution

or important information.

During the Fall of 2019, I wrote a review on the journal article, "Motivating Students to

Learn" written by Edward Hootstein for my Educational Psychology class. The central purpose

of this article was to identify strategies that middle school teachers could use to motivate their

students to learn. I connected this article review to this standard because I believe inquiry-based
learning is a great way to motivate students to learn because it gives them a sense of ownership

in their education. It is also important that teachers create learning experiences that make the

aspects of their subject matter meaningful for all students to motivate them to learn. With that

being said, this article educated me on the additional strategies I could use in my classroom to

present entertaining and meaningful material to my students.