Inquiry Stage: Analyse and Reflect


Analyse and Reflect 

When you investigate something, it's important to analyse and reflect on your findings. This will make connections between your new knowledge and your prior knowledge.  Comparing our prior knowledge and experience with our new observations and discussing them allows us to reflect on how our thinking may have changed and what we have learned.  

The following two routines can help you to reflect on your findings and to think about how your thinking has changed.

One way to analyse and reflect on your findings is to compare your prior knowledge and experience with your new observations. This will help you to see how your thinking has changed.

Supporting strategies:  Thinking about how our thinking has changed

I used to think… but now I think

This routine will help you to reflect on your findings, and changes in thinking (if they have changed) and assist you to discuss them with others. 

Think about what you have learned about the topic you have been investigating and complete the following sentence stems:

    • I used to think...
    • Now I think…

For example:

  • I used to think that the environment was not important. But now I think that the environment is essential to our survival, and that we need to do everything we can to protect it.

Ref: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/I%20Used%20to%20Think%20-%20Now%20I%20Think_2.pdf

 

Enhance your scientific inquiry skills with this free 'Claim-Evidence-Reasoning' graphic organizer. Download it now

Connect-extend-challenge

This is a way to think about what you have just read, seen, or heard. It helps you to make connections between what you have learned and what you already know. It also helps you to think about new ideas and to challenge your thinking.

Consider what you have just read, seen, or heard, and then ask yourself:

  1. Connect: How does this new information connect to what I already know?
  1. Extend: What new ideas do I get from this information?
  1. Challenge: What challenges or puzzles does this information raise?

 

 

By asking yourself these questions, you can think more deeply about what you have learned and how it fits into the world around you.  This routine focuses on how your thinking or knowledge has grown, and also encourages students to continue their inquiry with new questions to explore. 

Ref: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Connect%20Extend%20Challenge_2.pdf

 

Enhance your scientific inquiry skills with this free 'Connect Extend Challenge' graphic organizer. Download it now