Colin

Inquiry Science: Tinker, Play, Think

How does tinkering look in a science classroom? What can students 'play' with and still meet curriculum expectations? How can the inquiry approach be used with tinkering? Is there a place for this in a secondary classroom?

All good questions. This and more will be the focus on this session. We'll have a variety of things for you to play with, and talk about how this can be incorporated into your science program. We'll also talk about how to approach the curriculum and planning with a tinkering mindset.


 * Resources**

[|Tracker Video Software] - use this software to analyse video of various things.

[|How to Build a Mousetrap Car] - simple and easy way to introduce students to the concepts of tinkering.

[|Smarter Science] has some great resources to support using inquiry in the science classroom.

The [|Steps to Inquiry poster series] helps teachers guide students through the scientific process so that they are able to ask testable questions that THEY develop.

The [|Smarter Science Youtube channel] has some great videos to walk you through the processes using their templates.

[|Making Paper Helicopters] - [PDF] simple device to help students with the idea of tinkering with different parameters and observing the outcomes.

Here is a video explaining how to use the Steps to Inquiry with the Pengocopter. media type="custom" key="24133340"