Duck Pond Inquiry

Prior Knowledge: Living and Non-Living

Dash, Natasha

To launch our Sharing the Planet Unit of Inquiry, I take my class on a Wilderness Walk to
the Duck Pond near our school. Students are given a clip board, inquiry sheet, and pencil.
Students are asked to find and draw three things they think are living, three things they think
are non-living, and three things they aren’t sure if they are living or non-living. Once a student
has completed the task, an adult labels the pictures the student has drawn. The things that
students aren’t sure are living or non-living are turned into Wonder Wall questions (ex. Are
clouds living?) and posted in the classroom and used to drive lessons and further inquiry in the
unit. During the Wilderness Walk, students are not prompted in any way in terms of the criteria
for something to be living or non-living.

The Duck Pond Inquiry is a pre-assessment. According to Tomlinson and Moon (2013,
p.30) pre-assessments are formative assessments that “provide the teacher with clarity
regarding students’ prior or prerequisite knowledge related to content that the upcoming
learning segment is going to build on. Assessing for prior knowledge can identify student
misconceptions as well as gaps in knowledge and skills that a teacher might assume students of
a particular grade level have already mastered.” A pre-assessment answers the questions
“What do my students know, understand, and do proficiently?” (Tomlinson et al., n.d., p.3).

There are three lines of inquiry in the Sharing the Planet unit. Once the living and non-
living lessons have been taught, students complete the living and non-living inquiry task again
but at a different location (at the creek, park, trail, etc.). Students are instructed to find and
draw as many living and non-living things as they can. The “I Do Not Know” section is still on the
sheet but students are not required to fill in that section if they do not need to. This second
inquiry task (in a different location) is a formative assessment or assessment for learning
because the information gathered from the assessment helps me “plan for better focused or
more targeted instruction” and lets me know if the students are ready to move onto the next
line of inquiry (Tomlinson et al., n.d., p.8).
 DUCK POND INQUIRY
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: LIVING AND NON-LIVING
NAME:

LIVING ✔ NON-LIVING ✗

I DO NOT KNOW???
 LIVING AND NON-LIVING INQUIRY
LOCATION: _________________
NAME:

LIVING ✔ NON-LIVING ✗

I DO NOT KNOW???
 References

Tomlinson, C., & Moon, T. (2013). Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated

Classroom. ASCD Publications.

Tomlinson, C., Moon, T., Imbeau, M., & ASCD. (n.d.). Assessment and Student Success in a

Differentiated Classroom. ASCD Publications.

https://files.ascd.org/staticfiles/ascd/pdf/siteASCD/publications/assessment-and-di-

whitepaper.pdf