Title of the activity

Subject

• Elements of research
• Scientific method

Keywords

• Bone hunt (PHW), Projectile motion (EA), Plastic in the ocean (SCN), Vision tube (SCN)

This activity opens the process about elements of research and various steps within the inquiry-based teaching. First steps of this activity can be done before connected activities when participants are supposed to self-reflect about their vision of research. It would be advisable to introduce activity to participants modularly while they are gradually analyzing different elements and implementing them in connected activities.

If there is a need in some activities for the experiment design then the final part of this activity, the part where participants are creating a collage about elements of research, can be done after their initial proposal of the protocol and before the second iteration and adaptation of research protocol.

Learning outcomes

• Recall and extend understanding of research elements
• Examine and identify possible integrations of elements of research practice in classroom and teaching& learning environment
• Arrange and classify inquiry elements from scientific approach

• Recognize and classify elements of learning processes within the framework of scientific inquiry
• Categorize and prioritize steps in research projects
• Name the elements of scientific inquiry

Transversal skills

• Critical and innovative thinking: creativity & resourcefulness
• Interpersonal skills: communication

Number of participants and target age group

• Minimum 6, maximum 30 (divided in groups of min.3 max.5)
• Age group: 12 +

• 100 minutes can be divided in 4 different steps/modules
• Classroom activity length (approximate): 45 min

• Pack of paper A4 in various colors,
• Paper strips in various colors (A4 divided in 4 strips along shorter side)
• Felt tip pens in various colors,
• Set of flipchart/whiteboard markers in various colors,
• Prepared gears and clouds with elements of scientific method,
• Paper tape,
• Gift wrapping ribbons in various colors

• Venue with moveable chairs and tables
• Projector
• Projecting surface

• Before executing activity print out the gears of scientific method which can be found in

Handout – Gears of scientific method.pdf

• Ensure that there is internet connection in order to watch the movies

• Lecture
• Video
• Examples
• Visuals

• Questions
• Discussion
• Review

• Practice
• Demonstrations
• Presentations

• Problem solving
• Discussion
• Questioning

• Projects
• Problem solving
• Plan development
• Constructing

• Critiques
• Design/ development

Online version of activity can be seen on miro.com board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPRpei5g=

(minutes):

• Divide participants in pairs and give each pair 2 pieces of A4 paper and 1 felt tip pen.
• Instruct them that they sit facing away from each other. One of them will be given an image and that person must explain as better as possible what is on the image to his/her pair. The second person must follow the explanation and instructions in order to make a copy of the image without any questions, verbal or nonverbal communication.
• Distribute the same images to pairs and ensure that they are facing away from each other.
• The images/drawings can be found in Handout – energizer Copy paste the image.pdf document.
• Allocate 3 minutes for the first part of the activity. Observe the process and if needed take notes so you can offer feedback to the participants.
• After the first round instruct the participants how they will change roles. Person who was taking notes will now be given an image which she/he needs to explain while the first person who was explaining in the first part of the activity will now follow descriptions and try to recreate the image based on the description provided. The only difference now is that they are allowed to communicate during the process, ask questions and clarifications.
• Distribute the other image, to the pairs and give them same amount of time to finish the activity. Observe the process and if needed take notes so you can offer feedback to the participants.
  • Notes: Prepare in advance printouts from Handout – energizer Copy paste the image.pdf document. Ensure that there are enough copies for each pair.
  • Tips & tricks: The activity can be easily adapted for classroom environment if the drawings or images are chosen accordingly. For example, when graphs are covered in curriculum some specific graphs can be given to students so that they practice their scientific vocabulary.
  • Online environment adaptation: For online environment images must be distributed to individuals without their pairs seeing them and breakout rooms can be used to ensure the interactions among pairs.

(minutes):

• Prepare in advance paper strips in colored and white papers. Paper strips can be made by splitting A4 paper in 4 segments parallel with the shorter edge.
• Each participant receives one (or more) paper strip in colored papers and one (or more) white paper strips together with felt tip pen.
• They are asked to play the word association game with slightly changed rules. Instead of stating the first word or phrase that comes to mind on a given word facilitator will ask a question and the first reaction should not be an answer but the word/phrase up to maximum of three words. The associations should be written on paper strips, one association per strip with large letters over the entire strip.
  • The question is: What is science to you? Write the answers on colored papers.
  • Additional explanation if needed: With the assumption that all the teachers are with STEM background and/or teaching STEM subjects. What does it represent to you? How do you feel about it? What you think about it? What it means to you?
  • Instruct them not to write whole sentences as an answer but rather key words/phrases. Writing down one word, if needed they can write down more words but not more than 3. If someone has multiple associations, they can use additional paper strips.
• Instruct the participants to place the papers on the floor forming a circle so the answers can be read from the center of the circle, inside out.
• Introduce the participants with the second iteration. Now the answers should be written on white paper strips, emphasize that they should use big letters to fill in the entire strip with their answer. The point is that the answer can be read from a bigger distance.
  • The second question is: What do you think that science is to your students? Write the answer (one to maximum three words) on white paper.
  • Additional explanation if needed: You have some scientific background, you are teaching it, you have been studying it, you know more about it than regular average Joe/student. What do you think that the answers would be if the question was asked to your students? To random people in the bus, on the street or in the metro? To people who don’t have scientific background and who are not familiar with science.
• Instruct the participants to place the white paper strips with answers on the floor forming a concentric circle with the larger radius than the colored papers but turning it that way so the answers can be read from outside of the circle.
• Instruct participants to step inside the circle and move around reading the phrases on the colored paper, commenting interesting associations, something they find interesting, something they agree/disagree.
  • Open discussion guidelines: From their perspective the world around them and their vision of science is much more colorful but all of us together creates a small set of people. For us science is interesting, engaging, challenging. Usually phrases on the colored papers are more positive. The world around us is much bigger and step out of your comfort zone and observe how the rest of the world is looking at our world.
• Instruct the participants to step outside of the circle and comment and analyze phrases written on the white papers.
  • Open discussion guidelines: While teaching science we usually struggle with these prejudices and presumptions about science. Most of our students find science hard, dull, boring.
• Emphasize that the phrases in the outer circle are not associations that our students would have but are things that we think they might have. It is our own reflection and opinion; it is our own presumption.
• Facilitator should step on the border among colored and white papers and comment how usually we struggle to explain the beautiful and colorful world of science, as we experience it. As we try harder, figuring out different opportunities, investigating with new approaches we tend to increase the size of the colorful circle and invite more people to look at the science in a brighter way.
  • Additional interpretation: facilitator draws a circle on a whiteboard (approx. 15 cm in diameter) while leaving the rest of the board empty. Let’s imagine that this is a set of entire human knowledge from the ancient history to now. The closer we are to the circle we are talking about applied knowledge, the electricity, microwaves, telecommunication and so on. As we approach toward the edge of the circle, from inside, we approach the ongoing research and as we stop at the very border of the circle we are on the border with the fundamental and basic research. Every single time a scientific breakthrough is made little bump on the circle is created (erase small piece of the circle and make a small bump outward). The boarder between unknown/outside of the circle and the known/inside of the circle is increased. Size of the human knowledge is increased as well. But notice how the size of the unknown remains undefined. We don’t know how much we don’t know. Every single time a scientific fundamental breakthrough was made it was because somebody dared to turn their back to all of the human knowledge and bravely step into the darkness of unknown.
• Facilitator can now come back to the circles with papers on the floor, step on the border among colored and white papers, turn his/hers back toward the center of the circle and dramatically step outside of the circle. In order to create new knowledge, for us individually we have to gather the courage to step out from our comforting colorful bubble and explore the thing we don’t know. Don’t worry about it because there is lot of the things which are holding your back. It might be easier if you have somebody to hold your hand. End we are inviting you to join us in this trip collaboratively and collectively.
  • Tips & tricks: Usually there is a need to encourage participants more to start reading and commenting the words and phrases on the paper. Ask them to share what they read and pretend that you can not see it and when they read it you repeat it out loud.
  • Online environment adaptation: The activity can be executed in online environment with mentimeter.com or any other word cloud generator.

(minutes):

• Participants are divided in groups of minimum 3 maximum 5 per group.
• Individually (3 min) they are asked to reflect on elements of research and write them down
• In groups they compare (5 min) notes and analyze elements, see if they have overlapping ideas and explore elements which somebody did not consider
• They are given paper strips (15 min) (A4 paper split in 4-5 strips along the shorter side), whiteboard markers and ~1 m of paper tape and instructed to collaboratively create a mosaic which represents the elements of research and stick it up on the wall
  • In most of the cases those mosaics are linearly shaped, where the flow is visible from one element to another starting with a question/hypothesis and ending up with conclusion.
  • In most of the cases those papers are stacked in line with each other.
  • Usually, the facilitator can make jokes how for teachers everything must be within the line and “boxes” but as well raise awareness of challenges and mistakes teachers are doing while teaching science. Facilitator must be extremely careful not to “attack” teachers and avoid using “you” and use “we” instead. One of the key messages in this activity is how we are teaching our students that every single problem has a unique solution and a recipe/cookbook to follow to come to a solution while the research and real life are much more complicated than that. There are multiple factors influencing our conclusions and the path toward acquiring new knowledge is not a linear/straightforward path.
  • This part is usually visible without looking at the content written on paper strips
• The groups shortly present their mosaics. If needed facilitator (4 min) can quickly go through mosaics and emphasize important elements or interesting things.

(minutes):

• Based on our experience there is a big problem in educational system which we don’t want to see.
• Most of the times when teachers are asked to create a mosaic, a flowchart of how knowledge is produced and to present the elements of research so called “linear” hierarchy pops up. Occasionally some groups are more creative so they will order the elements under some angle or tilt them. Few will arrange some loops and backward arrows. It is anecdotal proof since we don’t have any research to back up our statements but within this project that is what we have noticed.
• There are all elements present, in one way or the other but globally speaking all of them start with a question and end up with conclusion.
• That is where our attention must be. If you think of it almost all exercises, examples and problems in the textbooks, are examples where all the variables are known. In this set up we demand from our students to correctly recognize the concept or equation, fill it in with given data and acquire solution to well defined significant figures.
• We teach our students how the path from A to B is a straight line, and that is by most of the examples in the textbook. In order to get to the result with needed accuracy we just need to follow the recipe, the cookbook, the tutorial with well-defined steps of scientific method. As Dan Meyer said in his TEDx talk the only thing we need to do is to teach students on how to decipher the problem.
• But research is way more complex then following the recipe. As life is as well. In research, science, in generation of new knowledge, skills, experiences, on everyday basis life is everything but a straight path with easy-to-follow instructions. Most of the time the path is extremely mushy and shady, curly and complicated. Most of the time we cannot be sure in advance where life will take us. There is a lot of errors and mistakes, failures and new attempts. Lot of tries which ends up near a trashcan because trashcan is already filled with previous attempts.
• Research, generation of new knowledge and life is a path, it is a mountain road full of challenges.
• The road enriched with confusion
• The road filled with frustration
• The road guided with emotions…
• The road of life
• And that is where transversal skills kick in as a necessity to interact with us from within and with others. The life is easier when you are prepared and because you cannot be prepared for everything doesn’t mean you cannot be prepared for something, as C. Hunt said. Different type of skills is needed to bravely engage with the world around us. We need to develop with students’ skills, behaviors, and tactics a person uses to interact with others effectively. We need to become aware about self-awareness and controlling internal attitudes and inner processes. We need to recognize importance of understanding the wider world and build attitudes, skills, and practices to access, analyze, evaluate, use, produce, and communicate information and knowledge. We need to develop transversal skills in our students.
• Let’s look at the road of scientist who became aware of this road and all the obstacles in it. The foggy road of research and life. Let’s look at Uri Alon’s talk on TED conference.
  • https://youtu.be/F1U26PLiXjM
• It is the box that shaped us, and it is the box that we are shaping our youth into.
• Once when we step outside of the box we will discover how we are in the complete darkness. Because walking outside of the box is walking outside of our comfort zone. As Uri Alon would say “Great! We must be feeling miserable!” That means we are in the cloud.

(minutes):

• Participant are given premade gears of scientific method and clouds with major elements which can be found in in Handout – Gears of scientific method.pdf, flipchart paper, paper tape/scotch tape, felt tip pens and whiteboard markers, wrapping ribbons. Their assignment is to use the gears and find a group consensus on where to place those clouds and gears. If needed they can add drawings, arrows, or additional explanations. Once when they establish equilibrium state they glue/stick everything on a flipchart paper to make a poster with flowchart.
• If they don’t know what certain element means they can try to find an explanation or definition online using digital technologies.
• Each group shortly explains their conclusions and proposals while the facilitator can additionally ask for certain clarifications about the position of some elements. Notice the gears which are placed on different locations in other groups. Collectively analyze created mind maps/flowchart.
  • Overall objective is to explain how research process is complicated and it involves variety of elements which are creating a complex network. There is no unique answer on this question. It is good to emphasize how teaching the true meaning and value of certain element is usually a gradual process.

• When the presentations are over mix the participants again creating so many groups as there are created mosaics/collages. Assign one collage to each group and instruct them to focus on certain number of gears. Their assignment is to think of scenarios, activities, and opportunities where the content of the gears can be learned or used.
  • Instruct them to be as specific as possible giving concrete examples, proposals, and ideas.
  • Instruct them that they recognize where they have been using those elements without being aware of its name.
• Each group presents their conclusions and brainstorms. Collaboratively analyze and discuss proposals, their obstacles, and possible solutions.
• Close up the activity with video about scientific inquiry: https://youtu.be/xRRn8f4JXis
• Lead the discussion with participants and explore:
  • How were those elements used before in their life/education?
  • How did their vision of science and research elements change?
  • How difficult it was for them to find “equilibrium position” and agreement in the group?

(for teachers)

(for students)

groups, let them write down their own opinions by themselves first, before they

have a discussion groups.

(for teacher trainings)

(for the activity/sequence when held in classroom)

Step 5 can be stand alone activity which we advise to implement in the classroom somewhere on the beginning of a school year. Keep the results and collages on the wall like posters and refer to them and their elements whenever there is a chance to talk about different research elements. It is good that students reflect on the research gears when designing a research question and setting up the experiment. It is advisable as well to offer the chance to students to reflect on the gears when writing the final reports or summarizing their research projects.

• Keep track of the gradual progress and development of understanding of various research elements by allowing addition of new elements on created mosaics.