Brittany H Journal 1 August 30, 2012

Piagets theory of development was the basis for a particular learning cycle created by Atkin and Karplus that was featured in the SCIS elementary science curriculum. This learning cycle contains three phases that a child goes through in order to learn something new and to find a way to fit that into their knowledge bank. The phases are typically called: exploration, invention, and discovery. Exploration happens when a child takes sensory information into the brain therefore gathering new information that puts their minds into a state of disequilibrium. In a classroom environment this phase usually occurs during experimentation, because the child is observing and forming both new ideas and those based upon prior experiences. Invention can be thought of as the child forming a new idea that they are able to structure and organize into their prior knowledge, therefore putting their mind back into a state of equilibrium. Discovery happens when the child is able to take the newly organized information and put it into application in a new situation. This learning cycle meets the expectations of inquiry instruction in quite a few important ways. Inquiry should challenge any prior experiences, feelings, beliefs, and knowledge towards a particular subject through the introduction of new sensory information and one can see where this occurs during Exploration. Through this self-questioning what often forms is an exciting drive in which the child wants to experiment and become particularly engaged within the science; which is essential in inquiry based instruction. Furthermore, in inquiry one expects the student to interpret new explanations, concepts, and definitions through the data and observations they have experienced. This idea fits into another phase of the Atkin and Karplus learning cycle,

that being Invention. Through inquiry it is vital that the student is able to expand the newly learned knowledge in other situations, otherwise we should ask why it was taught at all. After reading through all of the myths I believe that Myth #4: Student engagement in hands-on activities guarantees that inquiry and learning are occurring is the most common through my own experiences. In many of the science classes that I have been in, I have noticed that a lot of the teachers do see participation all around the room and assume everyone is understanding the material and forming new concepts. However, they fail to remember that students will just go through the motions and may not be getting anything from the activity. I have also observed in classrooms where the teacher doesnt do any follow-up clarifying, and the children do get left behind because of this assumption.