Melting Icebergs Reflection

Even though it is impossible to discern all of the effects of what would happen climatically, socially, and geographically if the polar ice caps melted there are a few consequences that we know would take place. Consequences such as global sea levels rising and displacing millions of people, changing climatic patterns associated with the shocking change in salinity of the world's oceans, disruption of ocean currents and temperatures, animal migratory patterns changing, disruptive changes in the basal organism of the food chain which leads to a domino effect throughout the food chain, changes in food production, economic downfall, climatic temperature changes due to the decrease in solar reflectivity of the earth, and geopolitical and geographic changes do to a new coast line and resource distribution. These consequences are all possibilities of the effects of a global event such as the polar ice caps melting.

I have been incorporating inquiry-based curricula ever since I have started teaching. Guided inquiry, along with the various other forms of guided inquiry, has worked exceptionally well for me; however, true inquiry where students are posed with a topic and discover on their own the characteristics of the topic has been a very time consuming process. In a public school setting where we have to cover huge amounts of material a time consuming process like true inquiry can set us back. So my question is has anyone found a way to utilize true inquiry, across varying topics, in a manner that is not so time consuming?

STEM Strategies Lesson Plan Reflection

As I created this lesson I was pleasantly surprised to know that a lot of my current planning techniques overlapped with this lesson planning process. I haven't really put into words the manner in which I develop a lesson; however, the 5 E's strategy aligned directly with the planning, implementation, evaluation and reflection that I employ throughout my lesson planning. As a science oriented person these strategies just seemed like the best logical way to develop a lesson and I am glad to see that they have been put into a formal strategy. Some practical or logistical issues that would need to be addressed with the lesson I developed include the amount of time allocated to the entire lesson and assessment, the availability of current technologies, and the availability of supplies to promote creativity.