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COMING SOON: FINAL WATER INQUIRY ROUNDTABLE MONDAY APRIL 25 3:30-5:30  RSVP cberner@smith.edu

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Questions about Water: Cloud to Faucet Student Drawings
Water Inquiry Teacher Roundtable

How does water travel?
On the sunny afternoon of March 31, teachers from three elementary schools joined Smith students and faculty to investigate children’s maps tracing the journey of water from cloud to faucet. Renee Bachman brought student work from Leeds Elementary School, where her third graders have been exploring rain, water droplets and the river as part of a year-long water inquiry.  Children’s diagrams stimulated a flurry of questions about how water travels and about advancing inquiry.

 

Questioning as a Tool for Deepening Inquiry
Teachers spent several minutes looking closely at each drawing and crafting questions on sticky notes in response to the prompt:  What questions does this student work stimulate for you?
Questions included:

“How are those pipes connected to the faucet?”

“It says clean water goes in, but how does the water get cleaned?”

“How does the cloud know to let the rain go?”

 

Sorting Questions
Participants sorted their questions into clusters of ideas by taking turns reading aloud a question and deciding if and how it connected to other questions.  The biggest cluster focused on the overarching question,  “How does water get clean?” One child’s drawing and explanation of the “water mill” provoked follow-up questions about where, why and how water gets clean (and what makes it dirty).

Identifying Overarching Questions
Teachers worked in pairs with clusters of questions to look for overarching questions and think about next steps for student inquiry:
What makes water dirty?
How does water get cleaned?
What do pipes do?
How do clouds work?
One teacher discovered an overarching theme, “What does water do by itself, and what do we control?”

 

Where do we go from here?
Teachers exchanged ideas about adapting questioning strategies for K-3 classrooms. Marcia Garcia highlighted the importance of students asking their own questions and thought her Kindergarteners would want to investigate what makes water dirty. Bob Hepner had the idea of exploring how pipes work by building marble mazes. Katy Butler brainstormed ways to help first graders write and sort questions. Al Rudnitsky discovered a cycle of questions in the “cloud” cluster and  Hannah Searles was curious about the “creatures” living in the “dirty” ocean water pictured in one child’s drawing.

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Sneak Peek! Water Story for Classrooms
Ruth Neils and Hannah Searles read aloud their working draft of a water inquiry adventure story designed to engage children in asking questions and solving problems to rescue ducklings from a storm drain. Al connected the water story to his research using story-telling as a tool for teaching first grade math Investigations. Participating teachers gave valuable feedback about the story, which students are eager to revise and pilot in classrooms.  Stay tuned for more!

Written by Carol Berner on behalf of the Water Inquiry Team
Ruth Neils (’19)  Hannah Searles (’18) and Al Rudnitsky
(with Pinn Janvatanavit contributing images and ideas)

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 to move these avenues of inquiry forward as a group and develop new resources for teachers interested in furthering idea-centered learning and improving children’s understanding of water.  

Learning from water inquiry roundtable discussions

On September 29, Jan Szymaszek, third grade teacher from Smith College Campus School, presented student work from her class’s first group discussions of fog. The work brought up a number of questions. Most importantly, perhaps, the group discussed the relationship between students’ noticing and wondering vs scientific fact. Where does the teacher’s responsibility lie when students wander down an unforeseen path (for example, if students postulate that fog is not water at all!)? How do we document the rich discussions that may happen spontaneously on the playground, or during lunch? Or how can a teacher bring different forms of water (fog, in this case) to the students? Some teachers wondered about launching their own water inquiries, allowing other teachers to offer advice and resources.

We reconvened as a group on November 9. Katy Butler, first grade teacher from Jackson Street School, presented students’ predictions and observations comparing water in a cup and in a sealed plastic bag: “Where will it go?” and “Where did it go?”  Following the discussion of the children’s work, everyone participated in a knowledge building activity, using a visual representation to display individual theories and how they connected with one another. This exercise brought up many more questions that we look forward to exploring in the future: What comes after the collection of students’ ideas? When is it time to bring an outside source into the discussion? Does the introduction of an expert source close the conversation, or can it open a new avenue of inquiry?

 

Reflections from students on the water team

With these questions and observations in mind, students from the water team reflect on their experiences participating in the roundtables below.

Ruth: In both roundtable sessions I found it very interesting to learn more about how students in each class develop their ideas about water through drawings, experiments, and class discussions. In both Jan Szymaszek’s classroom and Katy Butler’s classroom the students’ ideas about water shifted: from observations of turquoise pipes and imaginative theories involving large splashes, to ideas encompassing evaporation and the water cycle.  I am very interested to see how student theories continue to develop and how this development occurs. The Water Inquiry Team hopes to help guide continuing idea development about water, for teachers and students.

Catherine: What most interests me is the question of when to allow students to continue to search for answers on their own and when to bring in the expert. The work that Katy Butler presented at the most recent roundtable was a perfect example of how the teacher may guide discourse without calling on an authoritative source. Initially, her students believed that water evaporation was caused by splashing, so she encouraged them to fill plastic cups with water and then observe how the water level changed. As the water level dropped without splashes, children then concluded that wind must be blowing the water out of the cups. Currently, students are building “windproof machines” to see if that theory holds. But the question, echoed by many teachers during our visual exercise, still remains: Where to go next? At what point does the teacher have to hand the reins over to an outside source? How do you do that? Or do you have to? I look forward to grappling with these questions in the near future.

Hannah: I found myself really excited to learn more about what is going on in classrooms right now. In both Jan and Katy’s classrooms, students are in the process of refining their theories.  A combination of group discussion and experimentation drives the transition from an individual theory to a community theory. I look forward to seeing these theories develop as the year continues. Questions that I am interested in exploring also include: What is the role of the teacher in guiding discourse or theory formation? How can we support the shift from individual to community theories? I am looking forward to investigating these questions in the coming months.

What’s next?
As the year comes to a close, we leave for the holiday break with exciting data from teachers to analyze and many questions to consider and pursue going forward. Currently, the Water Inquiry team is contacting participating teachers to further learn about what is happening inside their classrooms and what sort of tools and techniques we can provide to help support their students’ inquiry. In March and April, we will hold two more roundtable sessions, sure to spark discussions as thoughtful and intriguing as those from this semester.

Blog post by Catherine Bradley, Allyson Ciccarone, Ruth Neils and Hannah Searles

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 project launches.

Catherine: What excites me is the possibility of collaborations between grades as well as interdisciplinary connections. Too often, learning is done in a vacuum, and what a student learns in third-grade science does not seem at all applicable to fourth-grade English. That’s why I was particularly intrigued to hear that 2nd and 3rd grade teachers from the Smith College Campus School are working together as a team to design their projects. I am also interested in ways of studying water inquiry that are not directly connected to science. Early ideas ranged from collecting water outside in some sort of artistic installation (from Katy Butler at Jackson Street School) to writing personal stories about water and creating geometric-based drawings to illustrate the story (from Renee Bachman at Leeds School). Since water is all around us, I am excited to see ideas that will make this theme as ubiquitous and present to students as water itself.

Ruth: While reading the observations about water from the 2nd and 3rd grade students at the Smith College Campus School I noticed repeated questions and observations about water moving objects around it. This brought up questions on the power of water. How strong is water? What can it move? How does water move these objects? This inquiry both noticed and then investigated by students opened up many other areas of study into the strength and power of water. I am excited to see if this topic continues to be pursued by students along with new discoveries and exploration into the different roles water can play in our community.

Allyson:  As I read over the email responses from August, I was struck by ideas from the teachers at Jackson Street School. Ms. Garcia plans on structuring her kindergartners’ study around the question “Why is water important?” This essential question lays ground for years worth of scientific understanding, supported by Ms. Garcia in the form of observations, books, discussions and exploration. The social implications of this question may also be discussed in the form of another essential question: “Who controls water? Is this fair?” In the first grade, Ms. Butler plans on structuring her inquiry around the questions “Where does water come from?” and “Where does water go?” Plans to go outside make me wonder what questions will be stirred up by the quest to ‘track’ water. (A word of advice: another teacher recommended that students definitely bring a change of shoes!) I can’t wait to see how her wall space for collective learning and idea building develops over time.

Both teachers plan to continue their water inquiry throughout the year. I hope that students in these classrooms will connect water studies with other scientific topics they cover. The fact that these students are a year apart also presents an interesting opportunity for both classrooms. I can certainly image a group of kindergartners and first graders standing at a classroom window in the winter making group observations about the icicles forming outside.

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 team. We look forward to visiting your classrooms and sharing water resources throughout the year.

Catherine Bradley is a junior at Smith College majoring in history and minoring in education. She has a strong interest in informal learning experiences and making educational resources such as museums, libraries, and archives accessible to all. Catherine spent her summer literally surrounded by water on the island of Nantucket, where she enjoyed swimming, biking, and exploring the island’s natural beauty while also interning at a historic house museum.

 

Allyson Ciccarone also attends Smith College and began her work with the Water Inquiry Project during the summer of her first year. Now a junior, she continues with student-centered engagements in settings both inside and outside of the classroom, including after school programs and tutoring. Allyson plans on teaching  history after gaining her certification. While passionate about her major, she is also interested in English Language Learners, shaping learning opportunities outside the classroom and developing creative methods of teaching. Over the summer, she worked two jobs while indulging in semi-regular hiking trips and days at the beach.

 

Hannah Searles is a sophomore at Smith College majoring in education and psychology. She plans to pursue licensure to become an elementary school teacher and is particularly interested in exploring science with young children. She spends her summers as a camp counselor working with preschoolers and kindergartners and finds herself constantly inspired by them to wonder “why?” about the world. During the year, she is a diver on the Smith swim team and spends most of her time immersed in water.

 

Ruth Neils is a freshman at Smith College planning on majoring in Environmental Science and Policy and minoring in Education. She is interested in environmental elementary education and spent this summer interning at a nature center helping to develop and lead environmental education programs for children between four and ten years old. In her free time Ruth enjoys biking, swimming, and reading.

 

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 cultural resource.

Participating teachers from Jackson Street, Leeds, and Smith College Campus School welcomed the downpour as an auspicious prelude to water investigations facilitated by Carol Berner and Al Rudnitsky (Department of Education and Child Study) with Reid Bertone-Johnson (Landscape Studies and Field Station Manager). In the spirit of Archibald MacLeish’s poem New England Weather, the “changing sky” provided participants with warm sun in time for a picnic lunch.

Water as a medium for inquiry 

In his introduction to the workshop and inquiry group, Professor Al Rudnitsky emphasized the goal of helping children become the kinds of thinkers they need to be in order to function effectively in the 21^st century. Connecting inquiry group approaches with the Next Generation Science Standards, Rudnitsky highlighted NGSS scientific and engineering practices including: “Asking questions, constructing explanations, and planning and carrying out investigations.”
He framed a question to guide the group’s collaborative research: How do we design learning environments where this kind of thinking can take place?

Teachers responded with examples of  “setting up conditions kids need to let their curiosity blossom,” and “getting kids to think deeply about something they thought they knew well.” Bob Hepner, Art Teacher at Smith Campus School, concluded “I wish every subject were like water. Kids like everything about it and it’s probably the most ubiquitous and magical substance around us.”

Rain cloud to faucet? Mapping group ideas

Where does Northampton drinking water come from? Giggles punctuated quiet concentration as teachers embarked on the day’s water inquiry, sketching the journey from rain to faucet.

Knowledge gaps became clear when the group co-constructed a diagram of shared understanding, skillfully rendered by Elena Betke-Brunswick (Smith M.A.T. ’15).  Mapping water’s path revealed shared understandings and questions. In almost all of the drawings rain fell from clouds in the upper left corner of the page, flowed down mountains in little streams, then gathered in a reservoir before entering a tangle of question marks leading to faucets.

“How do reservoirs work? What changes in a water treatment plant? Where do pumps happen? Who determines flow?” The group recorded questions about sources of drinking water and different ideas about how watersheds work: “Does some of it come from Vermont? From the Connecticut River? From groundwater? What’s the role of farms and irrigation? Does it get dirty along the way?”

 

Where does rain go from here? What is water doing?

After examining topographical maps, teachers set out in teams to investigate what happens when rain flows downhill (northeast) from the field station. Summer Interns Laura Krok-Horton (Smith ’18) and Liz Nagy (Smith ’18) documented teachers’ responses to the question: What is water doing?

“Dripping on leaves, soaking into the ground, making sounds, rising from mountains (how?), running into the stream (why?), running along ground paths, pooling atop mushrooms, making a slippery environment, making trees fall over, nourishing plants, aiding with decomposition, mixing with soil, flowing through rocks, collecting in pools.”
Reflecting back on the group diagram, participants wondered what portion of the water goes to the reservoir — anticipating the next stage in the investigation.

Insider view of water treatment:  “We make the flow”  

Visiting the reservoirs and water treatment plant raised new questions and revealed surprising discoveries about land ownership, infrastructure, and supply and demand (Coca Cola #1 and Smith #2!).  Andrew Dunn, Chief Plant Operator, gave a lively tour that helped teachers visualize what happens to water between reservoirs and faucets.  One big surprise was that water distribution is gravity-fed. As Dunn explained, “We make the flow.”

Reflecting on Learning

“Add trees!” was the first revision that teachers made to the diagram of water’s journey from rain cloud to faucet. They were eager to learn more about the relationship between forests and drinking water and wondered how to model and help children discover this connection. “Erase the pumps,” was another important modification to reflect the discovery that drinking water and fire hydrants are gravity-fed. Everyone agreed “the Connecticut River is too low” to flow into Northampton’s drinking water supply, so the river was moved to the bottom of the drawing.

In addition to new findings about water, teachers reflected on the impact of engaging in “multi-layered inquiry” over the course of the day. Katy Butler (First Grade Teacher at Jackson Street School) observed, “I liked being a learner myself. Starting with a question and tracing new learning is something I want to do more of with my students.” Stephanie Flinker (Alternative Learning Program Teacher at Jackson Street) said the day “reaffirmed that good questions lead to more questions.” The group seemed excited to collaborate over the coming year in designing learning environments to spark and sustain water inquiry with their students.

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For questions, comments or more information about the Water Inquiry Teacher Group please contact Carol Berner cberner@smith.edu. We welcome visitors to drop in on professional development sessions during the school year (schedule will be posted on Water Inquiry Blog).

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.

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“Some people might call this painting, but really we’re watching water move.” 
– Bob Hepner, Smith College Campus School Art Teacher

The following lesson is the launch for a series of 3rd grade art explorations at the Smith College Campus School with art teacher Bob Hepner. Elena Betke-Brunswick, Bob’s student teacher, recorded this experience as students began observing and experimenting with some of the ways that water moves.

Source of the Lesson
Inspiration for this lesson stemmed from an experience Hepner had while watering his garden.  He noticed how water traveled down his driveway and formed different patterns and branches as it flowed downward, imitating the way that rivers make pathways on smaller scale. He explained that students can recite facts about rivers but they have trouble understanding what is happening because of the large scale of a river.  This lesson helps break down the properties of how water moves while eliciting student curiosity about the properties of water at the same time.

Engaging Students

On their way to the art room the class makes a brief outdoor detour to a sloped driveway where they form a line from the top to the bottom of the small hill.  To help students begin observing and forming questions about the behavior of water and rivers, Hepner asks students to notice three things as he pours a bucket of water from the top of the driveway. The water flows downwards, following the dramatic pitch. The Hepner asks if any students would like to share one observation and a handful volunteer. Students seem excited to notice how the water is moving, and to think about how it might mimic a larger river.

Student Experimentation

Next, the class heads into the art room, gathering together on the rug. Surrounding them are photographs of various rivers, waterfalls, and birds-eye-views of winding, snaking rivers.

Hepner explains that students will have a chance to conduct this experiment themselves. Instead of a bucket of water and a driveway, they will use this piece of paper and a paintbrush to move water over the page. He models various ways to move water across the page, creating dots that hold tight to the paper and strokes and drips that flow smoothly across from one end of the paper to the other. The students head to their tables and experiment with their brushes, water, and paper while music plays in the background.

Ceiling lights flash, and the teacher announces a new variable: blue pigment. Each pair of students receives a cake of blue tempera paint, advised to add it slowly. After a few minutes, students are asked to share what they have discovered. Their eagerness to share is encouraging: this is just the beginning of the exploration and is meant to get everyone excited to learn more about rivers.

Reflecting on the Lesson
“I really liked how this lesson connected to the unit on rivers.  Students were engaged by exploring the properties of water in in a very specific and detailed way but the door was open to so many different directions for students to take.  I also loved the meditative quality of the painting, and how it wasn’t about the paint or the image but the feeling of moving water and noticing the way it interacted with the page.”  Elena Betke-Brunswick

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Integrating Art into the Mill River Study:  Further Explorations by 3rd Graders

Students created water paintings using only black ink to begin. They looked carefully at the shapes of water using photographs they had taken on a field trip to the Mill River in Northampton. As their images developed, students were invited to add one or two colors into their exploratory paintings.

Students looked at paper cuts by Matisse and water paintings by David Hockney before creating their own paper cut-outs of water shapes. Students were encouraged to used all the positive and negative shapes they cut out to create movement and layers of water.

Finally, students created sketches for easy-cut prints which they carved and printed on blue paper. The class experimented with layering prints and creating their own flowing river by connecting their prints in a long string of currents.

 

Text and photos by Elena Betke-Brunswick
Edited by Allyson Ciccarone and Carol Berner

 

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 sparked students’ interest through reading, class conversations, singing and fun experiments surrounding the water cycle. The exploration culminated in a creative writing assignment, where students combined imagination and acquired knowledge to narrate the life cycle of a water droplet. Examining both components of this inquiry allows us to recognize areas of student interest and opportunities for further avenues of exploration.

Engaging student’s imagination and building foundations

To begin, the class read the picture book All the Water in the World is All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon. This beautifully illustrated book introduces the idea of the water cycle and water’s ability to travel all around the world in various forms. Hearing that they were drinking the same water the Vikings did was extremely exciting for the students!

 

To observe the water cycle in action, the students conducted a simple experiment, involving two plastic cups, a sponge, water and a plate. The larger plastic cup represented the world, while the smaller cup with the sponge in it was the land. The warm water inside was the ocean, and the plate with the ice on top of it was the clouds. The goal of the experiment was to see if the sponge would get wet – if it did, it meant that it had rained. The warm water in combination with the cold plate caused condensation, which then dripped onto the sponge.

Students recorded their observations and got a chance to see for themselves what the water cycle looks like. Click here to download the lesson.

Students also participated in an artistic activity displaying the water cycle. Using shaving cream, food coloring, and a plastic cup of water, the class simulated a rainstorm. This project gets a little messy, so it’s helpful to have grownups in charge of the shaving cream and food coloring.

The water in the cup represented the air in the atmosphere, and the shaving cream sitting on top of it was a cloud. When food coloring poured onto the shaving cream, it “rained” from the cloud and into the water, creating beautiful patterns that let students see what precipitation looks like.

Then, using a plastic straw, the students swirled the shaving cream around and pressed pieces of paper on top, creating beautiful marbled art. This activity let students think both scientifically and creatively.  Click here to download the lesson.

How do first graders explain and imagine the water cycle?

To assess student understanding, Ms. Butler asked students to write to a water droplet using pictures and words to explain the water cycle:  “Today you will write a postcard to a water droplet. You will tell the water droplet what will happen to it during its life cycle. You can use words like first, next, then and finally. You get to choose where your water droplet starts in the cycle!” The children’s work reveals interesting patterns, questions, and areas for further inquiry.

Motion and repetition are recurring themes highlighted in children’s drawings and text. The postcard pictured above is a salient example of how children repeat words and symbols multiple times to show their understanding of the water cycle.  Up, fall, again are the most frequently repeated words.  Water drops, clouds and arrows (always shown clockwise) are the most frequently repeated visual images.

Water cycle vocabulary words appear in most of the postcards, more often in the written text than in the drawings. Although there is some variation in the order, most children choose to show or write the terms in the sequence: precipitation, condensation, evaporation.  It’s interesting to think about the connection between the children’s use of water cycle vocabulary words and their ideas about motion, repetition, and what they can observe in the world around them.

Visual elements in drawings include (in order of frequency): clouds, rain drops, water, arrows, buildings, ocean and topography (mountains/hills). Anomalies (each appearing in only one drawing) include: the sun, lightning, volcano, and a viking beard.

The imaginative prompt “Dear Droplet” activates children’s imagination and curiosity:

• “What is like to go all around the world?”
• “You will have a blast.”
• “You might get drinkt and that somebody might be me. You’re probably Viking beard water.”

Children’s questions and theories about how water travels around the water cycle point to further possibilities for inquiry and investigation:

• “You will go around the world.”
• “You will start in the ocean… end up in the same place.”
• “Dear water droplet where are you?
  Are you in New York?…
  Are you in Northampton?
  Are you in Greece?”

Areas for further inquiry emerge from what’s featured and what’s missing in the first graders’ explanations.  For example, the infrequent appearance of the the sun (only once), rivers, lakes and groundwater suggest new questions to investigate:

• What does the sun have to do with the water cycle? 
• How does water travel to the ocean?
• Can we SEE the water cycle? Where? Why or why not? – This could lead to a schoolyard scavenger hunt -style investigation over several weeks looking for evidence of precipitation, evaporation, and condensation.

Join the conversation
These activities are just snapshots of some of the ongoing water studies that teachers are doing with their students. What are you doing with your students? What seems exciting about water to them?

Blog post by Hannah Searles, Ally Ciccarone, and Carol Berner

 

 

 

 

 

Invitation to Join!
Water Inquiry Teacher Group 2015-’16
Open to K-6 teachers in all grade levels and disciplines

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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?

• Attend July 1 Workshop:  Field Trip and Project Launch
• Participate in 4 out of 6 Roundtables  (2-hour sessions Sep-May)
• Please reply by May 18
  
  

Interested to find out more?  

Student Contact:
Allyson Ciccarone aciccarone@smith.edu

Faculty Contact:
Carol Berner cberner@smith.edu

 

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 at Smith’s MacLeish Field Station in Whately, MA. The course, titled “Interpreting the New England Landscape,” encouraged us to interact with our natural surroundings in many different ways.  Inspired by the week, we developed two snow themed adventures, perfect for this time of year.

How Cold is Snow?

In our first snow inquiry, students bundle up and head outside, armed with easy-to-read tube thermometers. With these thermometers, students can measure the temperature of the air, the snow, and the ground underneath (a little digging may be required here!).  Try this in a few different spots on the school grounds:  in the sun and the shade; near the school building; near rocky outcroppings; around the playground.

 

• What’s do you notice about the temperatures?
• Can you find any patterns in temperature? Any surprises?
• If you were a small animal, like a mouse or a vole, where would you go? Why?

 

 

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What Happens to Water in Winter?
Make some class predictions before going outside:

• Where will you look for ice around the school grounds?
• Where will you look for liquid water?
• Do you think ice floats or sinks in water? What makes you say that?
• Imagine–if ice sank in water what would change?
• Which do you think is colder: ice or the water under the ice? How could we find this out?

Are there icicles on your building or frozen water on your school grounds?  Take students out to investigate places where ice forms:  Where do you see ice? What’s going on in these places?  If you’re lucky enough to be near a pond or running stream, take the temperature of the air above the ice and the water below the ice (you may want to tie a string to the thermometer if the water is deep). To dig a hole in thicker ice, try using a screwdriver and hammer, or a hand-held ice augur.

• How cold is the air above the ice? How cold is the water below?
• Where do you think fish and frogs go in the winter?
• Imagine–what is it like underneath the ice?

 

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Why aren’t we skating at the bottom of the pond?

Curious about winter water and how it impacts pond life? Check out this piece from Vermont Public Radio: Exploring above and below the ice

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 Please comment!

What are your students noticing and wondering about snow, ice and where water goes in winter? What snow-related activities incite the most curiosity? And look for the next blog with a winter inquiry that does not even require leaving the classroom!

– Ally, Catherine, Carol and Hannah