The Key to Inquiry!

 This week in lab we each completed our inquiry lab, my lab was apart of my wildlife and forestry unit focusing on the use of a dichotomous key. To begin, I asked students to sort beans into categories based off of the characteristics that they thought to be most important and definitive of the benas found in the bag. Once students successfully sorted their beans, we moved on to to coming up with characteristics to sort ourselves like hair color, age, zodiac sign, and height. From there, my cohort members ranked what characteristics they believed to be the most important when determining what allowed each of  us to be a part of this cohort. 

 Throughout this activity students used their own inquiry to move throughout classifying a group of people based on the characteristics and traits they believed to be important. This is the same process that scientists use when creating the dichotomous key. Through student inquiry, we walked through process of using a dichotomous key and then applied it to classifying trees. I loved the unique ideas that my cohort mates came up with as well as their excitement as we completed the activities. I am hopeful that my students come with the same amount of interest and excitement. 

This week I also made great strides in following my lesson plan as well as keeping track of it which is something I have been working on throughout this semester. I was also successful in keeping track of time throughout my lab and keeping with the pace of my students understanding. I do think that if I were to do this activity in person I might need to shorten my bellwork activity. Nonetheless, I am excited to see this activity playout in the classroom next semester at Athens.