After reading the articles this week, I find myself contemplating GEM in my planning … a lot. I am excited to try and implement this model of inquiry as it seems to be what I’ve been looking for. While I think I have been incorporating aspects of it already, it has given me a better foundation to reflect on my efforts to help my students develop key processes of inquiry, not just in science and math either … everywhere. I realize I need to put more effort into using “modeling and inquiry [to] facilitate the development and revision of abstract concepts” (Kahn, 899) in my classroom.

In Grade 7, students are expected to understand properties of matter. It can be a difficult concept for some as the abstract notion of particles and molecules aren’t readily observable. Creating enough hands-on activities to demonstrate this is also a challenge because changes involve increases and decreases in temperature, which produce safety concerns and impinge on time factors. A computer simulation can help students understand this concept beyond text-book facts and static images.

To begin with we would investigate quantitative and qualitative properties of matter, so students would be introduced to the concepts of solids, liquids, gases and particles as well as the rationale behind temperature being measured in kelvins. This would provide the appropriate background information before engaging in the PHET simulation – Properties of Matter.

GENERATE
Students are asked to collect data on neon and its particles in the 3 different states of matter. The first relationship they are asked to generate is how the particles compare to each other in each state.

EVALUATE
They need to test their hypothesis by investigating 2 other substances, argon and oxygen, in their different states of matter.

RE-GENERATE/RE-EVALUATE
Students collect further data by documenting temperature observed at each state with each substance. They are then asked to explain and test the relationship between temperature and the energy of the molecules, using the option of heating or cooling the substance.

EVALUATE/MODIFY
Finally, water is investigated to see if their theories of particle movement and interaction in relation to temperature continue to be valid. Students will be guided toward the solid model of water to investigate its particles further, its response to further cooling, and asked to evaluate/modify their assumptions about particles within solids – leading towards an understanding of the properties of ice compared to other solid substances.

Further investigations ~ this would extend into the next science class

Students use the temperature data they have collected to investigate what happens to different substances when they are heated or cooled to the same temperature observed by another substance in a particular state. E.g. Neon is observed in a gas state at 55 K … what does argon look at 55 K? What state of matter is most likely represented at this temperature?

Students are asked to comparatively investigate the substances and determine the impact variations of temperature would have on these substances according to a scale of temperature. E.g. Investigating boiling points, melting points and freezing points.

image: Beaded Molecules: preliminary tries by fdecomite released under a CC Attribution license

References

Khan, S. (2007). Model-based inquiries in chemistry. Science Education, 91(6), 877-905.

Khan, S. (2010). New pedagogies for teaching with computer simulations. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(3), 215-232.