Recognizing the stress that the pandemic continues to have on children, their families and educators, we hope this fresh end-of-winter “outdoor puzzle” will inspire your senses and imagination. What shapes of winter can you find outdoors, or through your window?
Observe and record your findings, then create a piece of art combining shapes, sounds, scents and textures of winter. We look forward to seeing your Winterscapes!
Planning for Spring? Try Water Inquiry Stories in Remote or Hybrid Classrooms
How would you save those ducklings?
Water Inquiry’s interactive stories work well to engage students in remote or hybrid learning environments. Illustrated story books come to life in virtual read-alouds. Interactive prompts launch water investigations in backyards and kitchen sinks. Students share ideas and questions by uploading videos, sketches and audio to SeeSaw. Read the blog post Remote Water Inquiry to follow the adventures of Eva Jaffe and her first graders “immersed” in Inquiry, Inc. and the Case of the Missing Ducklings. Our team is happy to consult with educators who are curious to try remote or hybrid investigations, email cberner@smith.edu.
“I wanted to share with you how I decided to launch the water inquiry this year, under these strange circumstances.” During the pandemic pivot, Eva Jaffe and her first grade students at Campus School piloted a remote version of Inquiry Inc and the Case of the Missing Ducklings. Thank you Group J for sharing your innovative solutions to storm drain engineering and virtual inquiry!
What does Water Inquiry look like online?
Testing a storm drain model
Eva posted videos of herself reading aloud the illustrated story of the Missing Ducklings in four weekly sessions (see links below). With the help of her sidekick, a yellow rubber duck, Eva introduced inquiry challenges, synthesized student ideas, and showed breaking newsof a duckling rescue. Students used Seesaw to post drawings, diagrams, audio clips, and videos. They shared adventures experimenting in kitchen sinks, building backyard storm drains, and documenting downpours. Cameo appearances included barking dogs, disappearing cats, encouraging parents, and sibling assistants: “My sister’s going to see if the ducklings can fit through. Now I think that is a NO. Ducklings cannot fit through.”
Creative and resourceful
Eva responds to a student post: “That is such a cool idea!”
Eva reflected on the remote version of Water Inquiry, “I saw so much more creativity and individual thinking….Kids had to use whatever they had at home and form their own interpretation of what they had to do.” Students improvised storm drain models with a wide range of materials including styrofoam with holes poked in it, cookie cooling racks, screens, pencils taped together, and chicken wire. After testing three materials, one student announced the results: “The one that won is the chicken wire because it’s bigger, and bigger is faster, and faster is better, because it won’t overfill the streets… the ducks can’t go through the chicken wire!”
Individual Thinking
Storm drain design with labels
Remote water inquiry highlighted the depth and divergence of individual thinking. Eva observed that, “kids who might have been more shy in a group were really able to make their thinking clear.” Students constructed working models and narrated lively explanations: “This is my storm drain and I’m going to tell you a little about it.” They investigated where water comes from and where water goes through stories, sketches, and videos of rain going: “down, down, down… all the way to this storm drain.”
Following rain: “down, down, down.”Storm drain model. “This is the house…”
Water Inquiry team learned with and from first graders
Emily Buxengaard introduces herself to Group J
Water Inquiry researcher Emily Buxengaard (’22) collaborated with Group J to support their inquiry. She introduced herself in a video: “I’m Emily from the Water Inquiry team and I’m really excited to look at some of your responses to the story of the Missing Ducklings.” A student promptly responded: “Sounds terrific. Nice to meet you.” Emily enjoyed connecting with first graders and encouraged their idea development. “I responded to many posts by pointing out something I liked about their thinking and asking a question I thought would further understanding.” Looking ahead to future iterations of remote Water Inquiry, Emily posed the question: “Are there ways to better engage students who aren’t interacting as much?”
How to build collaborative inquiry in a remote learning environment?
Water Inquiry Logo by Camille Butterfield ’21
A lingering question from the Group J pilot is how to improve collaborative inquiry online. Remote learning worked well to deepen and showcase individual thinking, but group collaboration was more challenging. Eva spoke about missing the classroom’s “saturation in Water Inquiry all day every day… Without daily conversations, charting thinking, and seeing work on the walls, it was difficult to figure out a way for all the kids to have access to everybody’s thinking and learning as a group.” Thank you to Group J for including us in your remote inquiry. We’re inspired by your intrepid problem-solving, just like the story characters: “Got a problem that won’t go away? Inquiry, Inc. will save the day!”
Curious to explore remote Water Inquiry?
Stella Bowles, Scientist and Activist, Nova Scotia, Canada. Drawing by Abby Moon (MAT’20).
Stay tuned for “Making Waves,” Water Inquiry’s project-in-the-works for middle school students featuring true stories of youth water activists from around the world.
Water Inquiry welcomes questions, comments, or suggestions. Please contact Carol: cberner@smith.edu
Written by Carol Berner
on behalf of the Water Inquiry team
Links to Eva Jaffe’s YouTube videos of Inquiry, Inc and the Case of the Missing Ducklings:
“It’s science! It’s inquiry! It’s imagination!” Nan Childs, pilot teacher
This October, Nan Childs’ second and third grade class at Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School became the first to pilot a new curriculum designed by the Water Inquiry project. The class, called the Greens, followed Inquiry Inc.’s new adventure in The Case of the Flooded Fields. In the story, soccer player Lee finds their practice field completely flooded right before a big championship game. An open-ended conclusion allows for inquiry-based discussions in which students think and ask questions, brainstorm solutions, and present what they would do to help solve the problem. Continue reading Piloting “Inquiry, Inc and the Case of the Flooded Fields”
The fall semester is underway, and students are settling into classes. Already, Water Inquiry has a ton of news to share, including a new project we’ve been working on since last year.
Wonder why first graders were peering intently down storm drains in an April downpour? They were figuring out how to rescue ducklings, prompted by the problem-solving story Inquiry, Inc. and the Case of the Missing Ducklings. This spring, Campus School first grade teachers Eva Jaffe and Emma Pascarella piloted the first in a series of interactive science inquiry stories created by Smith student researchers from the Water Inquiry Story Project. Eva Jaffe reflected about the storytelling pedagogy: “It gave their problem-solving work a purpose. Why bother thinking about storm drains? Because we could come up with a way for Inquiry Inc. to save some lost ducklings!” Continue reading April showers bring… May storm drains?!
We’re halfway through another semester here at Smith College, and the Water Inquiry team has been busy. Not only did we gain several new members, but we met several times during the month to discuss developments on projects new and old.
Water Inquiry’s own Ruth Neils taught our first story, Inquiry, Inc. and The Case of the Missing Ducklings, to third grade students at the Campus School of Smith College. We are happy to report that it was a success; the students were very engaged, and the story helped them think critically about storm drains! We’re examining ways to adapt the story for an older audience, including providing more prompts for scientific and reflective writing. Continue reading November 2018: Original Stories, New Members
“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”
–E.B. White
“That explains it!” one student exclaimed while looking under rocks on the banks of the Mill River. It was a sunny afternoon in Northampton, Massachusetts, and Jan Szymaszek’s third grade class was rapt. Autumn leaves drifted from branches, landing atop craggy boulders, or else becoming subsumed in the downward rush of water. Cameras in hand, students hopped their way through gravel and sand to capture moments that might generate questions or theories about rivers: how they move; where they lead; how they change. The launch of this year-long science unit invited students to explore their natural environment, making observations that they could then carry into classroom discussions. Continue reading The Flow of “Big Ideas”: Third Grade River Inquiry at the Smith College Campus School
It was a Saturday morning in January, -14 degrees, but students at the Williston Northampton School were bundled and ready to learn. In a basement classroom in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Water Inquiry researchers Brittany Collins and Lily Sun projected images of Inquiry Inc. onto the SmartBoard in Kim Evelti’s Intro to Programming class and introduced students to characters.
In the coming months, high schoolers will work with Water Inquiry to create a computer game that complements our inaugural water story, Inquiry Inc. and the Case of the Missing Ducklings. “Students seem very excited about collaborating with the Smith community,” Lily said after presenting to the class. “Although this is a beginning programming class, I could tell that they want to work hard to execute this vision. Continue reading A Duckling Story Computer Game? Read on!
“Flood cupcakes” were enjoyed by Water Inquiry researchers at their recent meeting!
Welcome, Water Inquirers, to the end of another year!
As you grade your final papers, we hope you’ll lend an ear.
It’s been a productive fall in our “thinking lab” near Capen.
Inquiry, Inc. characters had lots of puddles to play in.
Carlos asked his questions; Lee had lots of fun.
But we can’t tell you why, for the story has just begun!
Back in late October, we presented you with a clue.
And though it was quite telling, its relevance we did eschew.
But now it’s time for another hint, as the first snow falls and vacation draws near.
If you play close attention, the theme of our upcoming story should ring clear:
On a cold winter’s eve, Water Inquiry did gather
In the apartment of Pinn, where blue frosting she did lather
Upon some “flood cupcakes,” with rubber duckies and all–
An edible depiction of the narrative we crafted this fall.
“What happens when there is too much water?” our characters ask with concern
As rain pools in important places, lending opportunities to think and to learn.
While our first tale chronicled ducklings as they traveled underground,
Our new tale presents a different problem about water that surrounds.
From drain to rain
And rain to drain
Our characters brought their knowledge.
But “What about water that doesn’t disappear?” is a question that stumped students in college.
So that is the plight that characters now explore
In an exciting new story that surely will not bore.
Your students will get to end the tale *
Before packing their work into a box and sending it through the mail.
We eagerly await their problem-solving,
Their questions and hypotheses ever-evolving.
Goodbye for now, and we will see you after the break,
Ready to share our story about a field that turns into a lake!
‘Till next time,
The Water Inquiry Team
*stay tuned for details about the “Unfinished Story Box” writing challenge that will invite your students to create and share original endings for the next Inquiry, Inc. water investigation.
Written by Brittany Collins on behalf of Water Inquiry
