Remote Water Inquiry

“This is really going to work online”

“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? 

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 news of 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 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

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.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water Inquiry team learned with and from first graders

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?

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?

Check out the Water Inquiry website for illustrated storybooks, educator resources, and student work samples.

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:

• Part I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHiQLbIOmvY
• Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KMe4AOBZ7Y
• Part III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZXWpuXjdGM&t=8s
• Part IV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgEK5eN7nUE