Leaning INto The Science and Engineering PRactices: Plan and Carry Out Investigations

(Note: This is part 2 of a series of posts.  To read the introduction to the series, click here.)

Investigate.

Is there any other word that gets to the heart of what kids love about science than that?

The first NGSS Science and Engineering Practice I want to lean into is "Planning and Carrying Out Investigations:" ​

 

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I want to start with this one for two reasons:
          1. How well I lean into this one makes a bigger difference than any other on the list
                   and
          2. This one was the most difficult for me to learn to do well. 
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When will I use this Practice?

It depends.

One of the best parts of the Next Generation Science Standards is that they pre-assign a Science and Engineering Practice to each content area.  Most states have either adopted these standards or modeled their standards in this way.  So if you teach in one of these states (as I do), when you use this practice will be decided for you.  For example, it comes up once in this particular 6th grade unit I taught last year:
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If you teach in a state that hasn't adopted the NGSS at all, you'll simply have to decide for each standard if "Planning and Carrying Out Investigations" is a good choice of practice for the standard or not.  For example, I looked up four middle school standards from Florida, and three of them seem to me like good bets for planning investigations, while one does not:
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What are the barriers to leaning into this practice?

 In the introduction to this series, I listed the eight reasons I recently heard teachers give for not having the kind of exciting, engaging, and dynamic science classrooms we dream of:

1. I’ve never seen a dynamic science class, so I don't know what to aim for
2. I don’t have enough time to teach the science content and do all that stuff
3. I want to keep using the lesson plans I already have
4. I don't have the training, tools, or strategies to manage that kind of class
5. I fear that I’ll fail
6. I’m not convinced it will actually improve motivation or learning
7. I don’t have what I need to do this
8. I’m afraid I’ll get low evaluations from my administration

Some of these barriers may apply to your situation while others may not.  Personally, at some point or another, I've dealt with all of these except for #6.

"Plan and Carry Out Investigations," admittedly, is one of the harder practices to lean into.  Nonetheless, it is my hope that I can convince you to go for it by the end of this post, no matter which barriers above are holding you back.

So, what do you need to know about the practice of "Planning and Carrying Out Investigations" to make your classroom sparkle and sing?

​Let's lean in.
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STEP #1 - Reverse The Wording

Let's be honest - "plan and carry out investigations" sounds intimidating.  Students planning investigations into science they know nothing about sounds like a recipe for disaster.  How will they even know what to plan?  Will they actually learn anything from their OWN investigation ideas?  How will I manage a classroom where everybody is planning his or her own investigation?  THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!

I hear you.

But there's a trick.

​Reverse the wording.

The first step to leaning into this practice is to reverse the order of the wording from "Plan and Carry Out Investigations" to "Carry Out Then Plan Investigations."  Students need to carry out your investigations before planning their own.  That's the secret.

Let's say I'm making plans for class activities for this standard which includes the "Plan and Carry Out Investigations" practice:

If I hope that students will learn all about heat transfer from planning their own investigations, I'm dreaming.  How can you plan an investigation into something you know nothing about!?  Doesn't make any sense.

The key is to reverse the wording.

Plan and carry out investigations to demonstrate different rates of heat transfer
becomes
Carry out then plan investigations to demonstrate different rates of heat transfer.

On the first day of teaching this standard, students are going to carry out investigations planned by ME.
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Ideally, they'll do several core investigations - the foundational investigations that demonstrate the principle being taught (in this case, differential heat transfer).  Doing MY investigations first has several major benefits:

1. I assure that students experience the foundational investigations that teach the content
2. They learn the content through investigations first, BEFORE I teach it to them directly (this is called "explore before explain" by the experts.  I call it "do the fun stuff first."  It really works.)
3. By having completed several investigations, students have the experience to now plan proper investigations themselves moving forward, whereby they change one variable from an existing investigation.

Let's say I'm planning on giving this standard a week of class time.  I mentally think of each class as having "learning time" (where I teach them something in some way) and some sort of "working/practicing/doing" time.  I think that's common to most classes.  If I'm devoting five days to this standard, the whole first day is devoted to carrying out foundational investigations (in this case, they're both learning and doing simultaneously).

That's the trick that changed everything for me with this practice. 

Carry out first. 

​Then plan.
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STEP #2 - Teach the practice Explicitly

I think that sometimes the Science and Engineering Practices come across as HOW we're supposed to teach, not WHAT we're supposed to teach.  So in my example here, the standard might come across to some readers as:

​Don't buy into that.

You need to teach students how to plan and carry out investigations (and all the other practices).  It isn't intuitive.  We can't just teach students what they need to know; we have to teach them what to do.  The practice comes up over and over again from kindergarten to 12th grade.  

​Teach the practice explicitly.

I would specifically devote the next day's learning time to planning good investigations.  Students don't naturally know how to do that.  They have to be taught.

If you'd care to see it, here are the slides I made to guide my lesson on this.  You'll notice that it is pretty bare bones.  I reviewed the features of good investigations (this was our third time on this practice), modeled an example (I do), had the students help me with a second example (we do), then work a third example with a partner (you do together), and finally start planning their first official investigations (you do alone).  In doing so, they saw three examples of well crafted investigations and thought through the process and the pitfalls three times, too.
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It doesn't have to be fancy, but kids need instruction on the practices.  They can't be expected to do them - much less learn content while doing them - without explicit instruction.
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STEP #3 - Have a Scaffolding guide to help plan 

Even with good instruction, kids will have a tendency to cut corners in planning their investigations.  The page I provide them for doing so helps prevent that.  It forces them through a series of steps that should assure that they do a good job, or at least that I'll catch small problems before they become big problems.

​My scaffolding guide for "Planning and Carrying Out Investigations" looks like this:

It is one page front and back, and I check it when they reach #7 to make sure they've chosen an appropriate, safe, manageable, well-crafted investigation before they carry it out.  If you like this scaffold, you can access it here.  If not, other experts have made scaffolds, too.  The Wonder of Science website has a popular one, and I'm sure there are others to be had as well.

The key is that the scaffold becomes something students get familiar with so they make fewer mistakes and grow accustomed to the practice.  I typically teach students for two years, and by the end of that time, they can do this in their sleep because we use the same scaffolding document every time.  I've done this with students as young as first grade, too (with a modified version).  The scaffold makes a big difference.
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STEP #4 - Devote more than one day of "doing" time to allowing students to carry out investigations they plan Themselves

Now for the fun part.  When students are learning to plan investigations, that's what they're going to DO​ during work/practice/doing time.  They'll need a few days.  And they'll love it.  I'll plug in three days here, but it can be as many or few as you can afford.

This is the fun part, but also the intimidating part.  A room full of kids carrying out all different kinds of investigations - how in the world do you manage that!?  The next several steps address that very question.

STEP #5 - Offer to get supplies as requested

There's no way around it - investigations require materials, and if students are planning their own investigations, you won't have everything they want.

Step 6 in my scaffold asks students "what supplies will you need that aren't in the classroom right now?"  I ask this BEFORE I approve the investigation so I know what to get them.  Most of what they ask for is in the room or in the school somewhere.  Most of the rest can be picked up on the cheap with a trip to a grocery store or Walmart.  Students will often offer to get the rest.

This step is personal.  I'm fine making a trip to Walmart after school with everyone's wish list.  My schools have often been willing to pay for it.  If not, I'm willing to pay for it.  It is rarely expensive.  Usually the same few things are in everybody's investigations.  I also reserve the right to tell a student "you've planned a great investigation, but I won't be able to get you these supplies.  If you can get them, I can't wait to see how this goes!  If not, would you try investigating a different question?"

STEP #6 - Offer Choice, but The Teacher Approves

Ultimately, I want students to investigate questions they actually want to investigate.  However, I reserve the right to deny a proposal after step 7 in the scaffold.  Maybe the investigation isn't safe.  Maybe it is off topic.  Maybe it is poorly planned (reteaching opportunity!).  Maybe I can't get the materials it will take.  Maybe I just don't trust a certain student to do a certain investigation.

You want choice, but you don't want chaos.

STEP #7 - Keep Teaching!​

Don't forget, you still have teaching time!

What you do here will vary depending on the standard, but there is still time to teach those concepts, vocabulary, etc.  Planning investigations doesn't have to shut down everything else.  Back in step #1, I promoted sequencing activities based on the principle of "do the fun stuff first" (officially called "explore before explain").  Well, now it's time to explain.  Kids won't learn everything​ through discovery.

STEP #8 - Keep At It

If this is totally new for you, it will feel uncomfortable at first.  It will feel chaotic,  you'll wonder if the kids are actually learning (they are!), and there will be ways you want to personalize and modify things.

That's ok.

Like everything in teaching, you'll know what to do when the time comes.  You make a thousand decisions every day and fix a thousand little problems.  This is no different.  You'll figure it out.

Over time, you'll get better at this, and so will the kids. Just wait until the third time this practice comes up in your curriculum, and you're teaching planning investigations for the third time, and the kids are give you a "yeah, we remember" look the entire time you're teaching them what to do.  

And then wait and see how much gusto they dive into planning those investigations with.  They love it.  They'll know that for the next few days, when I go to science class, I'm going to really, truly do some science.

And they'll look forward to it.

And they'll remember it.

And so will you.

So c'mon!  Next time "Planning and Carrying Out Investigations" comes up in your science standards - go for it.

Lean in.​

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This is part 2 of a 10-part series called "Leaning Into The Science and Engineering Practices for a More Dynamic Classroom."  The rest of the series can be accessed here.

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