Author: Carol Berner

The Water Inquiry Team held two roundtable sessions this year, bringing together participating teachers from four schools to discuss classroom initiatives and reflect on idea-centered learning. We enjoyed these chances to hear about the real challenges of sustaining inquiry in the classroom and, of course, to examine student work. In the coming year, we hope … Continue reading Reflections on the Fall Semester

The school year is just a few weeks old, but we are already hearing of exciting plans and developments from our Water Inquiry teachers. As we prepare for our first teacher roundtable session at the end of the month, the student members of the Water Inquiry team wanted to share our initial reactions to various … Continue reading Reactions to Teachers’ Ideas

Welcome back to school! We are very excited for the year ahead and to see what directions the Water Inquiry project takes. This year’s plans for the project will be discussed in a later post, but before getting started, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce the student members of the Water Inquiry … Continue reading Meet the Students on the Water Inquiry Team

Water inquirers welcome New England weather Thunderstorms on the morning of July 1 invigorated an intrepid group of elementary school teachers meeting at the MacLeish Field Station to launch the 2015-16 Water Inquiry Teacher Group. The Water Inquiry Group is a professional learning community working to improve children’s understanding of water as a natural and … Continue reading Teacher inquiry: From rain drop to faucet

Interested in attending the July 1 workshop at Smith College's Field Station? There are a few spaces left in this kick-off event for the Water Inquiry Teacher Group.  Please e-mail Carol Berner cberner@smith.edu. “Some people might call this painting, but really we’re watching water move.”  - Bob Hepner, Smith College Campus School Art Teacher The following lesson … Continue reading How Does Water Move? Art and Inquiry

Reminder!  Sign up now for Water Inquiry Teacher Group July 1 Workshop. E-mail cberner@smith.edu How does a first grade teacher engage children in learning about the water cycle? Heading to Jackson Street School, water inquiry team member Hannah Searles observed Katy Butler's first grade class and their initial explorations into the water cycle. Ms. Butler … Continue reading Water Cycle: First Grade Experiments and Ideas

Invitation to Join! Water Inquiry Teacher Group 2015-'16 Open to K-6 teachers in all grade levels and disciplines Why Water Inquiry? Project Based Learning Schoolyard & Local Investigations Next Generation Science Standards Literacy and Arts-Integration Why Join? Professional learning community Honoraria and PDPs Roundtables with refreshments Smith College student and faculty support What's the Commitment? … Continue reading Water Inquiry Teacher Group

Hello everyone! My name is Catherine Bradley, and I recently joined the water inquiry team. I am a sophomore at Smith College, majoring in history with a minor in education, and I am very excited to begin working on this project. Over the winter break, I took a week-long interterm course co-taught by Professor Berner … Continue reading Winter Water Inquiries

Welcome to the Investigating Water Blog, home to all things regarding our water inquiry. Inquiry based learning takes a big question and converts it into a problem for students to solve. Our ‘big question’ - where does water go? - is one that many classrooms have engaged with over the past few months. In this … Continue reading Beginning Water Inquiries