¿NQUIRY wheel game

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention is a game spinner for an educational game in the field of science. The NQUIRY Wheel is constructed as a game spinner, consisting of the latest understanding of how scientists think and work. The accompanying Rules provide a novel approach to help students and teachers build conceptual understanding about science as inquiry. The NQUIRY Wheel Game brings research results into the theatre of the science learning environment, modeling conceptual change as a dynamic selectional system, that is, selecting participants into the science community.

Problem: How do we teach the practice of science more effectively than ever before? It is widely known that the so-called “scientific method” does not tell the whole story. Many classrooms and science fairs still send the message that there is a single step-by-step way to do science. In reality, scientific inquiry is a collection of ever-evolving practices of doing science that has grown over many centuries. Expert scientists use imagination, creativity, and perseverance, as they draw from their background experience and knowledge to solve problems, propose explanations, design and carry out investigations, and share significant results. But for many teachers and students, scientific inquiry can seem complicated. They often wonder: “Where do we begin?” “What do we do next?” “How do we test out our ideas?” “How do we know when we are really doing science?”

Solution: Play the NQUIRY Wheel Game!

Scientific inquiry begins with the creative act of generating questions, for which we have no immediately satisfying answer, about an encounter with a science phenomenon that piques our curiosity. The NQUIRY Wheel Game expands the conventional stepwise description into a spectrum of scientific inquiry strategies that expert scientists select from, arranged on a game board. When you select from the repertoire of inquiry strategies listed around the wheel, you can trust that you are involved in doing science.

Generally speaking, a cycle of inquiry moves through phases of activating curiosity, creating hypotheses, investigating, and then communicating significant results. But inquiry does not necessarily move step by step by step in a linear order. Scientists select what seems to make most sense in the midst of their work as they proceed, keeping the mind open to change, with a willingness to be wrong, often backtracking and jumping around. Sometimes, encountering the unexpected causes scientists to select a different strategy.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The NQUIRY Wheel Game consists of a spinner with a color wheel corresponding to twelve labeled inquiry strategies in four main categories and the accompanying rules of play:

• • I. Activate Curiosity
    • 1. Observe & Explore
    • 2. Ask Many Questions
    • 3. Zero in on what Piques Your Interest
  • II. Create Hypotheses
    • 4. Find out What's Already Known
    • 5. Create a Researchable Question
    • 6. Propose Several Likely Explanations
  • III. Investigate
    • 7. Devise Ways to Test Explanations
    • 8. Design an Investigation
    • 9. Carry Out an Investigation
  • IV. Communicate
    • 10. Interpret Results
    • 11. Reflect on the Implications
    • 12. Communicate Findings

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows the prototype NQUIRY Wheel Game, which can be fabricated as a 5′ diameter wheel and clear plastic spinner or printed on card stock as a 5″ diameter spinner prefabricated or to be assembled by participants.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention is a game spinner and rules for an educational game in the field of science. The NQUIRY Wheel is constructed as a game spinner, based on the latest research about how scientists think and work. The accompanying Rules of Play provide a novel approach to help students and teachers build conceptual understanding about science as inquiry. The NQUIRY Wheel Game brings research results into the theatre of the science learning environment, modeling conceptual change as a dynamic selectional system, that is, selecting participants into the science community.

Rules of Play

Object: To create new knowledge about the nature and practice of scientific inquiry. NQUIRY Coach Tasks: Setting up a Research expedition

(Coaches are science-savvy guides at events where the NQUIRY Wheel game is played.)

• • Create several hands-on, minds-on NQUIRY Stations, where players have an opportunity to explore an interesting phenomenon, along with science notebook materials to record Questions, Explanations, Observations, Results . . . etc.
  • If NQUIRY Wheel spinners are already made, assign one to each player.
  • Brief players about the basic context and boundary conditions of the Research expedition. Modify rules as needed to optimize learning for game participants.
  • When about twenty minutes are left, call the whole group to order to share results.

NQUIRY Player Tasks:

(Players can by any age. Coaches provide special guidance to new and younger players.)

• • Form several active inquiry teams (also called research squads), of 2, 3, 4, or 5.
  • If NQUIRY wheel spinners are not already made, have players construct them, by assembling the arrow and wheel with a small paper clip and cellophane tape.
  • As a team (or squad), select and group around an NQUIRY Station.

Playing the Game:

• • Take Turns Spinning the NQUIRY Wheel: in turn, each player spins the spinner. Each spin selects an inquiry method. The player leads a brief discussion to decide what the phrase means in the context of in the quest and what makes the most sense to do at that moment, and then DO what it means in relation to the selected questions. (In advanced play, other players may challenge and argue for the selection of a different method.)
  • Keep Track of Each Move: each player keeps a science notebook record of each move, including highlights of the discussion, to be ready to describe the choices and the moves to the whole group.
  • Tell the World: when the NQUIRY Coach calls the whole group to order, stop play. Each team/squad takes a few minutes to prepare a sharing of what happened. In turn, each team/squad creates and acts out the story of the just-enacted scientific inquiry expedition before the whole group.

When inquiry teams and coaches play the NQUIRY Wheel game, they construct new knowledge and conceptual understanding about doing science, modeling the process of conceptual change as a selectional system of scientific inquiry.

Advanced Play:

Agree on a Quest in Advance

• • Observe and examine the features of a natural phenomenon in many ways. Generate many interesting questions about the phenomenon, and write them down. As a group, select which questions hold the most interest and play the game with those questions in mind.

Exploratory Zone

• • Spin the Spinner: in turn, each player spins the spinner. Once the arrow points to an inquiry method (if it lands in between, pick either one), lead a brief discussion to agree on what it means, and then DO or discuss what you COULD DO based on what it means in relation to one of the your selected questions.
  • Keep Track of Each Move: each player keeps a science notebook record of each move, including highlights of the discussion, to be ready to describe the choices and the moves to the whole group.
  • Tell the World: when the NQUIRY Coach calls the whole group to order, stop play, take a few minutes to prepare a sharing of what happened, and then enact a replay of the scientific inquiry adventure with the whole group.

Investigative Zone

• • Spin the Spinner: in turn, each player spins the spinner. Once the arrow points to an inquiry method (if it lands in between, pick either one), lead a brief discussion to agree on what it means. The player whose turn it is ADVOCATES for the method and defends how it applies to the current inquiry situation; other players may CHALLENGE that point of view and offer an alternative method. Players then discuss and decide which method to actually carry out or further discuss how it could be carried out, based on what it means in relation to one of the selected questions.
  • Keep Track of Each Move: each player keeps a science notebook record of each move, in order to be ready to describe the moves to the whole group.
  • Tell the World: when the NQUIRY Coach calls the whole group to order, stop play. Each team/squad takes a few minutes to prepare a sharing of what happened. In turn, each team/squad creates and acts out the story of the just-enacted scientific inquiry expedition before the whole group.

Constructive Zone

• • Spinner as Compass: The NQUIRY Wheel is no longer used as a spinner, but as a compass. Each player, in turn, proposes a method that would move the inquiry toward a fruitful direction. Other players challenge, discuss, and decide which direction to pursue at each successive crossroad.
  • Keep Track of Each Move: each player keeps a science notebook record of each move, in order to be ready to describe the moves to the whole group.
  • Tell the World: when the NQUIRY Coach calls the whole group to order, stop play. Each team/squad takes a few minutes to prepare a sharing of what happened. In turn, each team/squad creates and acts out the story of the just-enacted scientific inquiry expedition before the whole group.

Productive Zone

• • Science Research Project: At this level, the object is to guide participants toward the completion of a collaborative research project. The NQUIRY Wheel becomes an effective tool to move the project forward.
  • Spinner as Catalyst: The NQUIRY Wheel is used as a self-regulating instrument, suggesting strategies at crucial moments in the course of developing and carrying out a research project over a period of days, weeks, months, or years.
  • Keep Track of Each Move: each participant keeps a science notebook record of the application of the NQUIRY Wheel, in order to be ready to describe its role in the research to the whole group.
  • Tell the World: when the project is completed, the participants present their findings, via posters, project displays, and other types of presentation, including creating and acting out the story of the just-enacted scientific inquiry expedition before the whole group.