3. Investigations

Relationships (Third Lab)

The goal is to conduct an extended, inquiry-based lab on a topic of your choosing.

Framing activity: Lab Groups and Patterns offers a way to form initial lab groups that help students see the way they relate to others as part of science learning.

Forming lab groups that work together for an extended period of time can help build community within a science class. It can also provide a context within which to focus on the virtues that sustain relationships.

In-class reflection: Look for moments when groups of students are actively collaborating. When they reach a natural stopping point, engage them in brief conversation:

• How did they treat one another during the process?
• How were different people included?
• How did they draw on one another’s strengths?

Journal prompt: Have students reflect on their lab work this week, thinking particularly of the times when they were collaborating with others:

• Did the process of collaboration go well?
• What made it go well (or not so well)?
• How is the question of how they treat their neighbor relevant to the process of scientific investigation?

Debrief: Choose between Closing Questions or The World Before Our Eyes to encourage students to reflect back on the whole lab. If there is time, you might do both.

Consider repeating the same debrief activity each week, to build a habit of reflection.