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Inquiry-Based Learning Using Everyday Objects
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Inquiry-Based Learning Using Everyday Objects
Hands-On Instructional Strategies That Promote Active Learning in Grades 3-8



April 2003 | 216 pages | Corwin

Engage students in object-based inquiry to encourage them to become more observant, inquisitive, and reflective!

Object-based inquiry is a tested method that enhances the skills of the student, as well as the instructor, by engaging students in hands-on studies of everyday objects, raising their curiosity and enthusiasm for the learning process. Hands-on instructional strategies foster active learning, allowing students to investigate essential questions, while at the same time meeting curriculum standards and creating a profoundly new learning experience. In this exciting new book, educators and authors Amy Edmonds Alvarado and Patricia R. Herr explore the concept of using everyday objects as a process initiated both by students and teachers, encouraging growth in student observation, inquisitiveness, and reflection in learning.

Essential focal points of this teaching resource include:

  • Concept and theory
  • Getting started and gathering collections of different objects
  • Lesson planning and student grouping
  • Formative and summative assessments
  • Sample lesson plans for language arts, science, social studies, and math

Inquiry-Based Learning Using Everyday Objects is a practical guide that will promote change in both teaching and thinking. It is a tool that all educators should add to their existing repertoire of teaching methods.


 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Dedication
 
Introduction: Welcome to Inquiry-Based Learning Using Everyday Objects (Object-Based Inquiry)
 
Part I. Object-Based Learning
 
1. What Is Object-Based Inquiry?
The Reality of Object-Based Learning

 
Why Use Object-Based Inquiry?

 
Time to Begin Your Journey

 
 
2. How Do I Gather Collections?
Getting Started

 
Expanding Your Collection

 
Storing Your Collections

 
 
3. How Do I Get Started?
Planning the Classroom

 
Grouping Your Students

 
Planning Your Lessons

 
Avoiding the Pitfalls

 
Benefits

 
Roles of the Teacher and Students

 
 
4. Where Do I Start With Planning?
Things to Consider

 
Step One: Developing Essential Understandings

 
Step Two: Identifying Specific Objectives

 
Step Three: Locating the Objects

 
Step Four: Question Development

 
Conclusion

 
 
5. How Do I Assess?
Formative Assessment

 
Summative Assessment

 
 
Part II. Lesson Plans
 
6. Language Lesson Plans
Why Do Tigers Have Stripes?

 
What Makes a Poem Perfect?

 
She Sells Sea Shells

 
What's Your Fantasy?

 
 
7. Science Lesson Plans
Zone Home

 
Birds of a Feather

 
Whose Track Is That?

 
Science Rocks

 
 
8. Social Studies Lesson Plans
I'm a Mystery: What's My History

 
Can You Dig History?

 
Where in America Are You?

 
Flower Power

 
 
9. Math Lesson Plans
Measuring Madness

 
Architectural Geometry

 
What's For Dinner?

 
What Part of Fractions Is Difficult?

 
 
Glossary
 
Index
Key features
  • Innovative teaching method uses safe, inexpensive, everyday objects like seashells, feathers, flowers, rocks, etc. to promote active student learning
  • Versatile teaching method engages learners at all levels within inclusive and differentiated classroom settings and can also be used for field trips and afterschool projects
  • Ready-to-use (or adapt) sample lessons provided in language arts, science, social studies, and math
  • Author Alvarado is a National Boart Certified teacher, and both authors were consultants to the Smithsonian during development of this teaching method

For instructors

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Paperback
ISBN: 9780761946809
$40.95