My name is Louise, I am teaching in a special school for pupils with a mild general learning disability. I have been teaching LCA classes the last number of years but will be teaching Junior primary in September.
One fascinating fact about space is that there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. Astronomers estimate that there are around 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe, each containing millions to billions of stars. This vast number highlights the incredible scale and complexity of the cosmos.
Incorporating inquiry based activities into the classroom significantly enhances students engagement and critical thinking skills. One effective inquiry based activity I plan to use is the Mystery Box Challenge.
This activity involves presenting students with a sealed box containing an unknown object. Students must ask yes-or-no questions to gather clues and eventually hypothesise the content of the box. This activity serves multiple educational purposes. Firstly, it stimulates curiosity and encourages active learning. Students are not merely passive recipients of information; instead, they actively participate in the learning process by formulating questions, predicting outcomes, and testing their hypotheses. This aligns with constructivist theories of learning, which emphasise the importance of students constructing their own understanding. Secondly, the Mystery Box activity fosters collaboration and communication skills. As students work together to solve the mystery, they must listen to each other’s questions and reasoning, promoting a collaborative learning environment. This peer interaction is crucial in developing social skills and learning from diverse perspectives. Lastly, this activity enhances critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Students must use deductive reasoning to eliminate possibilities and make educated guesses. By engaging in this hands-on and minds-on activity, students learn to approach problems systematically and think critically about the information they gather.