In this session (Session 7), we’ll focus on the interdisciplinary nature of the

Natural Inquirer.

The

Natural Inquirer

seeks, whenever possible, to

integrate

math, geography, geology, social science, chemistry, the arts, and other disciplines with its two main disciplines:

Life science and reading (language arts)

Recall the national science education standards. These are, first and foremost, the foundation for the

Natural Inquirer

. You have also learned about the importance of reading, understanding, and thinking critically about science. These also are priorities for the

Natural Inquirer.

An extension of reading science is the larger domain of language arts. To increase the educational value of the

Natural

Inquirer, it is important to have a background in language arts education standards. The following description of language arts competencies is from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, 2004, English and Language Arts Competency Skills. As you read through these, think of how each may be applied in

Natural Inquirer

Reflection Sections, FACTivities, or in other ways. If possible, keep 3-4

Natural Inquirers

with you as you go through this session. Refer to them frequently to see examples of the integration of disciplines.

Informational

Informational communication involves giving information to explain realities or ideas, to teach people who want to know what the writer/speaker knows. The writer/speaker of informational text should be knowledgeable and should communicate so that the audience may gain the knowledge as well as circumstances required. Informational texts often depend upon the traditional prompts of who, what, when, where, and how and can include definitions, instructions, directions, business letters, reports, and research.

Grades six and seven provide the foundation for the emphasis of the informational environment in grade eight where students are expected to create a research product in both written and presentational form.

You can see how the

Natural Inquirer

provides appropriate and needed training in informational communication. Students read informational (or expository) text in the

Natural Inquirer

, and through FACTivities and Reflection Sections, they may be asked to communicate information verbally or in writing.

One way students are asked to communicate information is through the creation of podcasts or broadcasts based on a

Natural Inquirer

article. A lesson plan for this is available in the monograph, “Worming Their Way In.” The lesson plan can be applied to any

Natural Inquirer

article. The lesson plan is available at http://www.naturalinquirer.org/ .

Existing podcasts may also be accessed at http://www.naturalinquirer.org/ Other informational applications for the

Natural Inquirer

are being developed for high schools. A pilot project in 2007-2008 in Dearborn, Michigan resulted in the first “Student Scientist Edition,” in which students conducted the research and wrote the articles. You can use these or your imagination to create other informational activities.

Expressive

Expressive communication involves exploring and sharing personal insights and experiences. The writer/speaker of expressive text addresses the reader/listener as a confidante, a friendly, though not necessarily personally known, audience who is interested in how thoughtful people respond to life. As authors, students write, speak, and use media for expressive purposes; as readers/listeners, they learn to appreciate the experiences of others. As students enter adolescence, they begin to question their role in the world around them. Understanding self and others is a part of expressive communication as are autobiographies, journals, friendly letters, and fictional accounts. The expressive environment is emphasized in grade six and reinforced in grades seven and eight. By the end of middle school, students should be thoughtful, reflective learners who actively interact in a wide variety of settings.

Although the

Natural Inquirer

is not as well designed to encourage expressive communication, you may still find an opportunity for this. For example, see how an opportunity for expressive communication was provided in the Wilderness Benefits Edition:

“

One of the measures of naturalness used by the scientists is distance from roads. In this FACTivity,

you will use your experience and imagination to explore whether you agree with the scientists’ conclusion.

You will write a story about going home from the viewpoint of an animal who makes his or her home in the forest.”

This FACTivity uses the article’s content as the foundation for expressive writing (and a critique). If you want to read more of the FACTivity, download the article from http://www.naturalinquirer.org/Defining-and-Measuring-the Ecological-Value-of-Wilderness-a-75.html

22

Argumentative

Argumentative communication involves defining issues and proposing reasonable solutions. Argumentative works include but are not limited to debates, problem/solutions, speeches, and letters to the editor. In middle school, students must learn the differences between an informal hallway confrontation and a logical, detailed, coherently organized argumentative work. After establishing the foundations of argument in grade six, the argumentative environment is emphasized in grade seven with refinement occurring at grade eight. By the end of middle school, students should be able to construct engaging, thoughtful solutions to problems as well as detailed, well-argued, coherent, and convincing responses.

Many of the

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FACTivities address argumentative communication. For example, in the Tropical Edition, students are given the opportunity to develop and present arguments for or against an action:

“In this FACTivity, you will answer the question: Should an area of land outside of the Guanica forest boundary be closed to land development?”

The FACTivity has students take one of two positions as a member of a group. Each group develops an argument for their position and makes a presentation to a third group which decides whether an area of land outside of Guanica forest should be closed to land development. See the entire FACTivity at http://www.naturalinquirer.org/Land-Use-in-a-Dry-Tropical-Forest-a-4.html

As you can see, the

Natural Inquirer

should address the broader area of language arts whenever possible.

Before we leave language arts, let’s discuss reading science from a different perspective. In an earlier session, you learned about the importance of reading science, and how to read a scientific article. Now, let’s explore some strategies for enhancing reading in middle school.

In the Introductory session, you learned how the different sections of the

Natural Inquirer

function to enhance reading comprehension. This is a good time to go back to the first session (powerpoint) and review that information. In addition to its functionality, the

Natural Inquirer

now includes reading strategies in its lesson plans. Such lesson plans are helpful to science teachers, who may not have a background in reading strategies.

Remember that the

Natural Inquirer

is primarily a minds-on science education resource. The main way students use it is by reading and thinking about science.

Adapted from the Sarasota, Florida, K-12 Web site:

What is a Reading Strategy?

A reading strategy is an activity used to help students increase reading abilities. A reading strategy outlines what methods of instruction will enable the students to become proficient readers. In other words, what will the teacher do in the classroom to meet the needs of all levels of readers?

From the Sarasota, FL K-12 Web site: When Are Strategies Used?

To assist students in:

•Predicting outcomes in a reading passage •Summarizing material which has been read, both fictional and informational •Questioning material being read •Determining important ideas while reading •Monitoring their reading •Searching for clues •Rereading to confirm •Reading ahead or back for clues •Self-correcting It is a good idea to search the Web and become familiar with at least a few of the reading strategies available. These can become the foundation for practical and useable lesson plans. For example, visit http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ELA/6 12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/reading%20strategies%20ind ex.htm

When you are at the Greece “Reading Strategies” Web site, continue with the following exercise.

Look at the “Interactive Notebook” strategy. Take a few moments to think about how you might adapt this strategy for the

Natural Inquirer

. Now look at the “Parallel Note Taking” strategy. How might you adapt this for use in the

Natural Inquirer

? Write your ideas down in your notebook.

Read a few more of the strategies. This will give you a good feel for how reading strategies can be developed into lesson plans for the

Natural Inquirer.

Here is another Web site with a list of reading strategies: http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/index.htm

As you can see, there is a wide range of strategies which may be adapted for use in the

Natural Inquirer

.

To develop the podcasts available on the

Natural Inquirer

Web site, the teacher used a reading strategy called SCAN and RUN. These and other strategies, such as the PAR strategy ( http://educatoral.com/PAR.html

), can be found by searching the Web. Other reading strategies available in current

Natural Inquirers

include two types of graphic organizers. These are available in the “FACE Look!” monograph and the “Worming Their Way In” monograph. These can be viewed by downloading the monograph from the

Natural Inquirer

Web site, www.naturalinquirer.org

.

For purposes of creating

Natural Inquirer

s, it is important to understand that lesson plans, and especially those that incorporate reading strategies, are crucial to making your article easily useable by educators.

Before we leave language arts, it is important to remember that middle school students enjoy playing word games (as do people of all ages). Therefore, the

Natural Inquirer

Web site provides word searches and other reading comprehension games to make learning more fun. For more information, visit the

Natural Inquirer

Web site and explore these resources. We have software and can facilitate creating these word searches for your glossary.

“Worming Their Way In’ Word Search

Complete the 12 sentences below by writing the correct word from the article glossary. Then, find the glossary words in the Word Search puzzle by circling them. The words may be diagonal, from left to right or right to left, and up to down or down to up.

Person who goes fishing.______________________

Environment where a plant or animal naturally grows and lives._______

A type of evergreen tree that produces cones and has needle-shaped or scalelike leaves, such as pines, firs, and spruces.__________________

The top layer of dead and decaying leaves, small sticks, and twigs that lay on the forest floor.__________________________

Skilled individual who takes care of natural resources.______________ Not naturally occurring in an area.___________________________

Movement into an area by an object or organism that is likely to cause harm.__________________________

Remaining in a pure or unspoiled state.__________________

Groups of organisms that resemble one another in appearance, behavior, chemical processes, and genetic structure._____________________

Any living thing._____________________________

Naturally occurring in an area.______________________________

The science of describing, identifying, and classifying organisms based on their natural relationships.________________________________

***Note to Educators: Please feel free to make copies for other appropriate educational opportunities.

Now, let’s move on to the integration of other disciplines. First let’s discuss

math

. Math is an integral part of the research process. One of the main ways that math is incorporated into the

Natural Inquirer

is through the presentation of data. Middle school students should be learning how to read and create a variety of data-based displays, such as tables, pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, and other displays of numeric data. If the article’s research is quantitative (and most of them are), each

Natural Inquirer

article includes some kind of numeric representation.

Select any 3

Natural Inquirer

articles and review them for their numeric representations. When you write a

Natural Inquirer

article, you must visualize how to present data in a format that middle school students can understand.

Another way math is integrated into the

Natural Inquirer

is through special sections called “Number Crunches.” Number crunches are often transformations of numeric values from one system of measurement to another (usually metric to customary units, or the American system of measurement). Scientists across the world use the metric system of measurement. Therefore, by asking students to make a conversion to the U.S. system, you are: 1) giving them experience in math and 2) helping them to visualize the metric quantity.

Number Crunches

How many yards away from their breeding habitat were adult male and female frogs found? Multiply the number of meters by 1.09 to find out. To find out how many feet this is, multiply the number of meters by 3.28.

Number Crunches If the scientists set a total of 1,125 traps in 20 locations, how many traps (on the average) did they set in each location?

Use your imagination when developing Number Crunches for your article. Students can calculate averages, add, subtract, multiply, and divide. You may have them work with decimals and fractions. You may ask them to compare and contrast values. By 7 th grade, students should have the skills to complete these tasks.

To become familiar with math standards for middle school, visit http://www.georgiastandards.org/mathframework.aspx

In 7 th grade, students are beginning to learn about statistical analysis and numeric representation.

This makes the

Natural Inquirer

an important tool for the integrative middle school curriculum.

Let’s talk

GEOGRAPHY

! You probably know that U.S. citizens have been found to be geographically low literate. The

Natural Inquirer

can help address this by providing a variety of map types and scales, and other geographic images. Before we go farther, however, let’s consider the concept of scale. The

Natural Inquirer

presents geographic information at a variety of scales. As an exercise, look through 3

Natural Inquirers

and find examples of maps shown at the regional, national, and international scales. In some cases, two or more maps (at different scales) are shown in one figure.

Figure 5.

A topographic (to po

graf

ik) map is a type of map that shows an area’s elevation. Elevation is the height of the land above sea level. Some topographic maps use lines to show elevation, but this map uses shading. The lightest areas are the areas with the highest elevation. The darker the area’s shading, the lower its elevation.

The dots on this map mark the places where the scientists set the pitfall traps. Look closely at the map. What do you notice about the location of the pitfall traps? What is the range in elevation for the areas where most of the pitfall traps were set?

Map skills may also be introduced in the

Natural Inquirer

. For example, students may be asked to use latitude and longitude to identify an area, or they may be asked to read a contour map for elevation. (From the Wildland Fire Edition. Contour map on previous slide.)

For 18 national geography standards, visit http://www.ncge.org/publications/tutorial/standards/ .

This will give you guidance about how you can integrate geography into your article. Here are a few examples of how these standards have been incorporated into

Natural Inquirer

s: From the World’s Forest Edition, addressing

STANDARD 9:

The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface.

From the World’s Forest Edtion, this addresses

STANDARD 8:

The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface. Also from the World’s Forest Edition, a series of cartograms addresses

STANDARD 4:

The physical and human characteristics of places. (These cartograms redraw countries according to a value. For example, there was almost no forest growth in Africa between 1990 and 2005.)

Figure 20. Amount of forest growth in each country between 1990 and 2005. Map by Worldmapper

As you can see, learning geography is a natural companion to learning science, and it is closely related to environmental and natural resource science and to environmental social science. Carefully review the national geography standards so that you can take full advantage of these opportunities for your

Natural Inquirer

article.

In one article (“Wild and Free,” from the Wilderness Benefits Edition), the process of creating a Geographic Information System was described.

Now let’s consider Geology. From Wikipedia, “

Geology

is the science and study of the solid matter that constitutes Earth . Encompassing such things as rocks, soil, and gemstones, geology studies the composition, structure, physical properties, history, and the processes that shape Earth's components. It is one of the Earth sciences .” Past

Natural Inquirer

articles have addressed soil sciences, and in particular have looked at soil ecology and the exchange of gases between the soil and the atmosphere. Other ways to incorporate geology may be to share soil and rock characteristics of an area, or to describe the geologic history by using a sidebar.

Figure 6. Photograph of equipment used to collect nitrous oxide gas being released from the soil. (From the Tropical Forest Edition)

Social sciences

(or social studies): Social studies standards are organized around 10 themes: •Culture •Time, Continuity, and Change •People, Places, and Environment •Individual Development and Identity •Individuals, Groups, and Institutions •Power, Authority, and Governance •Production, Distribution, and Consumption •Science, Technology, and Society •Global Connections •Civic Ideals and Practices

Figure 14. Young man watering trees to stabilize sand dunes (From the World’s Forests Edition)

The

Natural Inquirer

can address many of these, but the most natural fit is in the area of People, Places and Environment.

It is worth noting, however, that every one of these ten themes has the possibility of being addressed in the

Natural Inquirer.

Within each

Natural Inquirer

journal, at least one of the articles is written from social science research. From Wikipedia, “

Social Sciences

is the field of sciences concerned with the studies of the social life of human groups and individuals, including economics , geography , history , political science , psychology , social studies , and sociology .” ( Glossary at nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 25 April 2008.) It may surprise you to learn that the social science article can be the most popular and widely used article in the journal. This is because

few social science resources exist

. From the Urban Forest Edition

To students, social science articles may not always have the appeal of a life science article. There are, however, students attracted to human behavior and for them, social sciences open up a new world of science.

Social science articles often provide the opportunity to introduce different analytical methods. For example, social sciences often use qualitative methods, providing an important lesson in scientific inquiry.

From the Wilderness Benefits Edition

Other scientific disciplines may also be integrated as appropriate. Examples include chemistry and physics. In such cases, the integration may be major, such as writing from an article using a chemical analysis. In other cases, a sidebar may be used to highlight a concept from one of these disciplines. Use your imagination to incorporate as many disciplines as appropriate. Remember, however, to stick to your storyline. Number Crunches: Although elephants vary in size and weight, let’s say the average weight of an elephant is four tonnes (Figure 26).

How many elephants would it take to equal one Gt?

To calculate this, divide 1,000,000,000 by 4.

How many elephants would it take to equal the weight of carbon in all of the world’s forests? (From the World’s Forests Edition)

Where possible, recognize the spatial and visual learner and include opportunities to incorporate art into the

Natural Inquirer

. In the monograph, “FACE Look!,” a celtic circle was shown and students were asked to compare and contrast the visual symbol with what they learned in the article.

Tree of Life Here is a design called the “Tree of Life.” Think about the article you just read. Compare this design with what you know about the roots of trees. In what ways is this design accurate in what it suggests about trees and their roots? In what ways is it inaccurate? What does this design suggest about trees? Is it meant to be an accurate representation of a tree? Draw your own design of a tree and its roots. Celtic Tree of Life by Jen Delyth ©1990 www.kelticdesigns.com

Students may also be asked to draw their understandings. In one example, students were asked to create word maps. In another, a FACTivity extension included the creation of colorful posters that educate people based on the article content.

FACT

ivity Extension (or in cooperation with the Art teacher)

Time:

One class period

Need:

Poster paper, colored markers One of the ways invasive earthworms travel to new areas is through the actions of anglers. Create colorful posters to educate anglers about invasive earthworms. These posters should recommend that worms be disposed of properly (not discarded on the ground). Your teacher may set up a display of your posters in your school hallway or in a local library or other public area. (From the FACE Look! monograph)

You have completed Session 7 of the

Natural Inquirer

Writing Course. In this session, you learned how to integrate a number of disciplines into your

Natural Inquirer

article.