What is worth explaining
Investigations get started as people see something puzzling or worth explaining. Deciding what about a phenomenon is relevant to understand isn’t obvious, and often relies on knowledge and experience. Providing extended experience with a phenomenon and asking students to begin to think about what is puzzling and worth explaining will help them develop a purpose for investigating.
A closer look at uncertainty in the classroom
As fifth graders begin to examine decomposition outside, there is so much to think about that they focus on bigger questions like, “How long will it take?” But when we provide extended experience in the classroom with a decomposition chamber, students see the way mold forms and the differences in when and how materials change. Uncertainty about what is worth explaining becomes productive as:
Students have extended experience with the phenomenon
Student wonderings emerge and are shared
Students have extended experience with the phenomenon
The teacher brings in a large plastic tub with 2-3 inches of soil and a selection of plant materials that support interesting comparisons between materials that decompose faster and slower (e.g., 2-3 each of strawberries, whole cherry tomatoes, carrots, apple slices, lettuce leaves, sticks, rocks, and dried tree leaves).
She tells students that the chamber will allow them to observe decomposition in the classroom and discusses how the bin represents the outdoors, including organisms falling to the ground, soil, and rain. She emphasizes that students will observe the chamber over several weeks and come up with new questions for further investigation. Over the next two to three weeks, alongside other lessons focused on animal decomposition, students observe changes in the decomposition chamber 1-2 times per week for 10-20 minutes at a time. They draw and write what they notice, what they wonder, and possible explanations for what they are seeing (“I think this is happening because…”).
Decomposition chambers with interesting contrasts.
Student wonderings emerge and are shared
The teacher invites students to post questions and explanations in a public place and students respond to others’ posts.
Different questions and wonderings start to emerge:
Are there bugs that are doing the decomposing?
Why do moldy things smell?
Why is the cherry tomato not moldy? Why is the strawberry molding so fast?
Is water important? What does it do?
Students post wonderings and potential explanations on a wall and respond to each other’s ideas.
Instructional moves to support this form of uncertainty
Think about what phenomenon you engage children with– make sure they can connect with the phenomenon and that there are surprising results and contrasts that evoke curiosity or a problem that they find consequential.
Provide sustained time and experience with the phenomenon – do this through trips outside, videos and books, or a simplified version (like a decomposition chamber) in the classroom
Nurture uncertainty through listening for wonderings, disagreements, and tentative explanations. Provide time for students to discuss these.
Model your own curiosity about phenomena, asking questions like “I wonder if that’s always true,” “I wonder why…” “I wonder what would happen if…”
Where else does this form of uncertainty come up?
Explore Related Cases
Other Ways to Learn More
Visit the Seed Dispersal Investigation and consider how we use a trip outdoors, a book, and predictions to help children see seed travel as worth explaining.
You can explore the first several lessons of our Decomposition Investigation to see more about the process of supporting students to consider what is worth explaining.
