From Oreos to Oil Spills: Putting My Knowledge of Inquiry Instruction to Use

             This week in lab proved to be a challenge as I had to teach an inquiry based lesson. I was really excited for this lab because I felt very prepared. I attended a seven hour workshop sponsored by NAAE and Du-Pont at FFA National Convention this year. The workshop was all about inquiry based instruction: what it is, how it can be performed, and examples of lessons to use in the classroom. Last week, our methods class took a field trip to Greenwood High School in Millerstown, Pa to watch two National Agriscience Ambassadors use inquiry instruction in their classes. We also discussed inquiry instruction in class along with having a guest presenter provide more in depth detail about inquiry and how to incorporate it into student teaching. I also had what I personally thought was a great inquiry lesson for lab. Needless to say, I felt very prepared!

         I based my inquiry lesson on pollution, focusing on oil spills, which is a topic I will be teaching in my aquatic resources class this spring. I provided a brief introduction through PowerPoint to start off class. I then led students into determining how to clean up a smaller scale oil spill by simulating an oil spill in a plastic container with water and oil. My lab peers were exposed to several different items they could use to try to soak up oil: dry dirt, cat litter, a sponge, and stall shavings. Students were provided a sheet to form a hypothesis, collet data, and formulate conclusions. Students also had scales to use if needed.

One thing I think that worked really well for this lab was the actual content of the lab. It was very inquiry based and had my lab peers asking questions and trying new methods to determine which material was best to clean up oil. I was also confident when presenting this lab. It was the first lab I performed where I did not get myself worked up and wasn’t nervous! I know we are three quarters of the way through the semester but I see it as a big improvement! I also thought that my lesson was well prepared and I generated a lot of questions to ask students as they worked.

          There were also some points for improvement in this lab however. I think in the beginning of lab, I should have let students pose questions to answer rather than give them as much guidance as I did. I should have allowed them to determine what exactly they would be solving rather than pretty much tell them to determine which material worked best to soak up the most oil. I also should have asked more questions as students worked. I create numerous questions in my lesson plan but didn’t end up asking many of them. I also should have taken advantage of the fact that I wasn’t nervous and put more passion and energy into my lesson!

           After my lab, my peers and I had a great discussion going. My peers wanted to know which material provided worked the best. We also generated questions I can ask my students when I teach this lesson during student teaching. Some of these questions included “Can you separate oil and water?” “How can you measure how much oil was soaked up?” “Why do certain materials work better to soak up oil?” I also explained how I envisioned students ultimately completing the lab: measuring the weight of a material before and after it was soaked in the oil to determine how saturated the material was. One of my peers thought of this method during lab which was encouraging to see. However, more time would be needed to carry out this method.

            Overall, I think this was one of my better lab performances! I was very excited to see my peers working hard to figure out which material worked better to soak up the most oil. I was also very pleased with all of the discussion after lab and the feedback I was provided. It was encouraging to see the anxiousness of my peers as they wanted to know the answer to the lab. I hope this occurs when I student teach. With a few adjustments and improvements, I think this lab will be ready to use during student teaching and will have an awesome outcome!