Derek Christensen reports on the development of the inquiry, which he guided with five questions, and reflects on the rich learning experience created during the inquiry:

I decided to try to use a prompt to introduce the idea of exponent laws. In the past I always guided students by having them expand 67 x 64 into repeated multiplication and then back into a single power. Then we would draw a conclusion and state the rule. 

After viewing the Inquiry Maths website and using a couple of prompts I wondered if using a prompt would be more effective. So I gave my class, seated in groups, the prompt.

I then had them record their thoughts using the following questions:

1. What do you notice? (With this we asked, "Is it true?")

2. What do you wonder? (This includes questions like "What if ....?" or "What would happen if ....?")

3. What does this make you predict? ("If this is true then would .... also be true?")

4. How can you test your predictions and make new predictions if necessary?

5. Any Conclusions?

Question 4

Question 4 on testing predictions was a big part of what we did. Students were asked to predict answers to the “I wonder / What if” questions and then find a way to test their predictions. 

One important part of this is making sure they know it is not bad to make a prediction and prove it to be false. Knowing something does not work is just as powerful and important as knowing something is true. I am still working out how I want to do this part in a more effective way.

Question 5

At the end of the inquiry, the class returned to its initial responses to the prompt. 

Kelly Anne Garner posted these pictures on twitter. They show the ideas and questions from her class of middle school students at the Frankfurt International School. 

The question about whether 3-4 equals 3 ÷ 3 ÷ 3 ÷ 3 shows the students are operating at the edge of their knowledge in attempting to make sense of exponents. They went on to share their lines of inquiry with each other as part of small and large groups.

June 2018