My Inquiry Lesson!

   Two days after my direct instruction lesson, my group and I once again presented a lesson in front of a whole class. However, this lesson was a little different; it was an inquiry lesson. The difference between a direct instruction and inquiry lesson is that a direct instruction lesson is very teacher-centered, whereas inquiry lessons are much more student-centered. In our inquiry lesson, our students needed to help out an "alien visitor" that wanted to know what life was like on earth. So, the students took turns reading riddles and guessing what plant organelle each riddle represented. At the end of all of the riddles, the students had to write a letter to the alien, describing to him what they know about plant organelles. Overall, I think the lesson went well.


   The students seemed to enjoy the riddles, and guessing what organelle the riddle was talking about. They guessed and discussed the riddles together as groups, which I think helped the inquiry process. The students were much more engaged doing this process as a group rather than as individuals. I also think that the students liked the "alien visitor", especially the fact that one of my group members actually recorded an alien voice for the students! We played it before the students started their inquiry, and I think it got them even more excited to start the process. During the inquiry process, the students also created their own cells. After they guessed the right organelle, the students would take a cut out of that organelle, color it, glue it onto their piece of construction paper, and label it. My group wanted the students to have something to keep or maybe even take home with them from our lesson, and we thought this was a good way to do that. However, the students cells did not end up going the way my group and I planned.

   The students did not end up having enough time to finish their cells, which is unfortunate. However, they had the supplies to finish them on their own if they chose to do so, which my group and I were happy about. Something else that didn't go according to plan during our lesson was our review game that we wanted to play in the beginning with the students. This game would've gone over all of the organelles we went over a couple of days prior, and activated the student's prior knowledge. But, QR code for the game didn't work, so we didn't get to do the game. I think that playing the game would've definitely helped the students solve the riddles better and more quickly, because it would have went over the organelles and their functions.

   Teaching this lesson was much different than teaching the direct instruction lesson. In this lesson, the students were much more hands on, making it an entirely new challenge. However, through teaching this lesson I realized that these types of lessons are very beneficial for students. They get to be hands on, and research and learn deeply about a topic. I will absolutely use this type of lesson in my future classrooms, especially during science instruction.