ERIC Number: EJ745129
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Reference Count: 3
Crayfish Investigations: Inquiry in Action for Grades 4-8
Martin-Hansen, Lisa M.
Science Activities: Classroom Projects and Curriculum Ideas, v41 n4 p3-6 Win 2005
The author, an elementary school teacher, describes a way of incorporating an inquiry approach to teaching by refining a crayfish unit originally found in an ESS (Elementary Science Study) module. She used a "coupled-inquiry" approach, a combination of guided-inquiry and open-inquiry, with an application used for assessment purposes. In five or six class periods using a few, easy-to-find materials, students can investigate crayfish in the classroom. She sought to have students learn both process and content skills through both a guided and an open-inquiry approach. Later, she used the same investigations with her eighth-grade life science students and even with her college-level preservice teachers. All the students marveled at the behavior of the small, brown lobsterlike creatures. The author found that the coupled-inquiry model was useful in enabling her to achieve her teaching objectives while enabling her students to design their own investigations. (Contains 4 resources.)
Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Science Instruction, Inquiry, Science Activities, Animals, Investigations
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Elementary Secondary Education; Grade 4; Grade 5; Grade 6; Grade 7; Grade 8; Higher Education
Authoring Institution: N/A