In order to trigger students' thinking, this teacher posed an overarching inquiry question (which lacks a conclusive theory) to them and tasked them with formulating their own theories about the question.
Nutrition in Man
Enzymes
Model of Cells
19th Century Singapore
Colonial Singapore
Cells and DNA
Acids and Alkalis
Singapore History
Both Melvin and Ellie tasked their Secondary 1 History classes with posting questions on Chapter 3 and 4 and then choosing the inquiry question for their classes. These are the inquiry questions the classes worked on.
To view, click on the inquiry question.
- Why weren’t the people in Singapore being caught when they smoked opium in the 19th to early 20th century?
- Was life tougher during the 19th and early 20th century or was life tougher during WWII?
- 1C - Was life tough under British rule?
- Was Singapore an attractive option for the poorer immigrants to come during the 19th century? Why?
- Why did Singapore become a prosperous and busy port in the 1900s?
Scientific Inquiry
Students were interested in the inquiry question: Do gummy bears float in water?
Joyce first allowed students to make their conjectures and support it with reasons. Subsequently, some gummy bears were observed to float while others sank, leading to students’ ideas coming thick and fast about the structure, components and weight of the gummy bear as reasons to justify their observations.
Menstruation
Instead of menstruating every month, why is the uterine lining (endometrium) not sustained continuously throughout the life of a woman from puberty to menopause?
The theory formulated by Crystal, the teacher, is that it would require a lot of energy to sustain the endometrium continuously, and from an evolutionary point of view, this is not very efficient for the body.
In order to guide students towards an explanation for this question, Crystal provided guiding questions: Why do women undergo menstruation? What is the uterine lining used for? What causes the uterine lining to grow and thicken? Why can the uterus be a good environment for bacteria to grow? How can it affect the woman when microbes grow in the uterus?
Here is the KF view generated:
Nutrition in Humans
Is faeces a type of excretion?
The question led students to think about what excretion is. They came up with many other questions such as "Is faeces edible and is urine drinkable?" Students went on to find out the components of urine and faeces and whether they contained any useful nutrients that could be utilised by the human body.
Enzymes
Students started off the topic on enzymes with an experiment of yeast and hydrogen peroxide, but without knowing the contents of the experiment.
The enzyme catalayse in yeast cells catalysed the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas, resulting in bubbles formed. Students were allowed to smell and hold the test-tube, and using their observations, they were asked to provide a hypothesis of the contents in the test-tube.
