Accountable Talk Worksheet for Investigation 4.1
Due to an error on my part, third period had unexpected results. The indicators showed no sugar in any of their samples! It was due to the fact that I kept the amylase solution too cold, and it settled to the bottom of the dropper bottles. For the rest of the classes, I kept the amylase warmed in my hands and shook it before dispensing it each time.
This unexpected result gave us a chance to revisit the idea of how to handle outliers and unexpected results. Most of the students in third period felt they needed to redo the investigation to have sufficient evidence to support the claim. I wish we had the time to do it! Instead, I had to ask them to use photographic evidence of the results from other periods.
The second half of the period was spent updating our digestion posters with post-it notes and new supporting evidence. I asked that the table groups focus on using a specific method for adding or revising information. We already have an established system for color-coded post-its, depending on what changes are being made. But now, I am asking groups to provide more supporting evidence than in the past.When we provided our full explanations for earthquakes, we said it was okay to just say, "we learned it in the pad investigation", or, "we used a computer simulation." That was acceptable shorthand, since we had all done those investigations and we understood the actual evidence. Now, we want to provide our supporting evidence in a way that someone who hasn't studied the unit can understand it and accept it as sufficient and appropriate. I asked that one post-it note be the added or amended explanation, using the sentence starters on the revision key, and a second post-it note connected to the first that supplies the evidence supporting the claim. We will revisit this after a couple more investigations, and continue to build our full explanation.
