Inquiry process FDK

Elements of the child’s inquiry process	When children are engaged in the inquiry process, they: (be specific – what might you see children doing in your inquiry?)	When educators are modeling or supporting the inquiry process, they: (what could educators be saying/doing? List questions, actions, materials)
Initial Engagement	·      Reading a story about cookies may raise questions such as “how are cookies made?” “How do they go from being a liquid to a solid?” ·      The children may also make connections with what they may see their parents or older sibling doing in the kitchen baking with the book.	·      Observing the children as they are making connections during the story ·      Answering their questions and also asking open-ended questions that will encourage the children to answer their own questions by asking them “what do you think happens when the cookies go in the oven?” “What do you know about cookies?”
Exploration	·      More questions might be raised such as “What happens if I put less sugar?’ “What happens to the batter if I put lots of flour” ·      The children may make connections from what they have seen in the story read to them, the discussions that happened before the activity about what the children already knew about cookies, the cookie diagram (see image) the children may say “I remember baking with my mom and she said baking soda is important for cookies, so I am going to put a lot of baking soda”. ·      Use language as they communicate with each other as they are working in small groups collaborating their ideas on how much of each ingredient will make cookies. The children may discuss things such as “We should add more flour since the batter is too liquidly” or “What ingredient should we put in next?” ·      The children may also use observation skills using their senses as they are able to smell, touch and taste small amounts of some of the ingredients in order to see how much of each ingredient they feel should be in their cookies.	·      Walking around the circular tables making observations on what the children are saying, any questions that the children are asking and if the children seem engaged or do they seem confused or under stimulated. ·      Asking even more open-ended questions to encourage more critical thinking for the children such as “What happens when you pour 1 cup of flour into this cup (smaller cup)?” “How much does one cup of sugar weigh?” (Hand the child a scale that they can pour the cup of sugar on) “What do you think will happen since you decided to put lots of baking powder in the cookies?”  Or model the behavior by exploring using the different sized cups and bowls with the ingredients. ·      Encouraging new language math skills that the children can use such as “1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup” ·      Encouraging the children to speak to each other by providing enough materials that they need to share and work together in order to make the cookies. ·      Encouraging he children to make predictions on what they think will happen and what they think their cookies will look like by asking the children “What ingredients did you use? And “What do you think will happen since you added these ingredients?” ·      Provide children with paper and writing materials such as (pencils, markers, crayons) to draw their predictions on what they think their cookies will look like ·      Support the children by encouraging them to make connections as they are exploring the materials such as “What cookies have you had before?” “Have you been in the kitchen with your parents? What do they do in the kitchen?”
Investigation	·      Ask questions based on what they are observing as they look at their now baked cookies. Such as “My cookie looks too soft” “My cookie looks delicious” “My cookie doesn’t look cooked” ·      They may start to describe what they are observing as they are eating the cookies such as “My cookie tastes too floury” “My cookie is to hard” ·      Gather information and draw conclusions as they discuss the observations and conclusions they made as they explored with their now baked cookies ·      Gather the information they learned and what they now know, to create a hypothesis that they can use when they do the experiment again.	·      The teacher will provide lots of materials and resources for all the children to work with such as lots of ingredients, books about cookies, the cookie diagram to refer to, and have computers available ·      Create charts or diagrams with the children in order to help the children reflect on their experiment and what they would do differently in order to create the cookie they think is the best. ·      Asking questions to further expand on the children’s thinking such as “you added lots of flour this time, what would you do differently?” “What do you think made your cookie turn out this way?” ·      Encourage the children to observe the cookies they have made and compare it with the predictions they made before the activity to help the children to start to have a better understanding of the cookies they are making.
Communication	·      Work together or look at the books and other resources on their own to gather information and discuss their ideas on what they would do differently as they try to make the cookies again ·      Brainstorming ideas and listening to each other on what they will do next time, as they might say “Lets add even more eggs” “I think we added to much flour, instead after looking at the chart we should add more sugar to make a crunchy cookie” ·      The children can also speak to the teacher on their ideas and what they believe will create a really good cookie for the next experiment.	·      The teacher will observe the children as they are discussing their ideas with each other or finding ideas on their own that can create the cookie they want. ·      The teacher will also help children create connections between their past predictions and observations on their first batch of cookies with the new information they have gathered through the class discussions