Reading in Inquiry Stage Four
In this final stage of inquiry, texts can model the many possible ways to express a concept through words, pictures, and graphs. Reading exposes students to multiple ways of describing and explaining the same ideas. Students can compare style, text structure, and conclusions. Looking at others’ work also challenges students to connect what they have learned to alternative explanations.
Resources for Reading in Inquiry Stage Four
Inquiry at the Window: Pursuing the Wonders of Learners
by Phyllis Whitin and David J. Whitin. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1997.
In this book, Phyllis Whitin recounts her experiences as an elementary
teacher the year her students completed a yearlong study of birds. Through
the telling of her story, she details the processes of inquiry and inspires
teachers to support their students’ interests in science. Chapter
4, called “Inquiry Focuses and Refocuses Investigations,”
outlines how Ms. Whitlin’s class learned to use different graphing
techniques to record scientific information about birds. Further, she
describes the way children interpreted their results, wondered, hypothesized,
and revised their investigations based on what they had found. By reading
each other’s data reports, questioning the results, and discussing
the trends, her students furthered their own understanding of both birds
and the inquiry method. The chapter speaks directly to the issue of reading
in Inquiry Stage Four.
