Week 2 - Application

When reviewing the assignment for week two, not only did I do this for myself, I decided to do this with three of my classes with whom I had already tried guided inquiry lessons. This was an opportunity to "Do-over" what was a chaotic attempt at guided inquiry the first time. We did the steepness of the ramp and mass in their relationship to momentum. The implementation of this guided inquiry lesson was much more manageable than the first time, mainly because the experiment was very familiar (this was the third variation of a force and motion activity) but I also reduced the number of variable changes students could choose. The degree of change within those variables ranged from group to group but I didn’t have to spend as much time with each group correcting procedures and misconceptions. Because of this, I was able to see each group before time had expired making each class easier to manage. I believe that most of my students understand momentum and the relationship between mass and speed better. The excitement was certainly there ensuring all were actively engaged. Their reflections was better in that they didn’t just give a retelling of the activity, but that they explained what happened scientifically using the right vocabulary. Not everyone showed the same amount of improvement but certainly all showed some level of understanding that they didn't have prior to this activity. All of my fourth grade classes have only one week before their lab assessments begin so the timing was good. I believe that all three classes have a better understanding going into their finals, so I plan on implementing this with my remaining classes this week. C-ya!