Miccalene Paquet

22210709

BKN102 : SS3
Theme selected: Animals that help us.

PART A: Planning a theme table for the Study Area Beginning Knowledge [30 marks]

Four photographs setting up your theme table.

 Final theme table display (include you with your display).

Two paragraphs (150 words each), discuss how your theme table display will support a child's
discovery and knowledge of the theme selected.

How my theme table supports the a child’s discovery and knowledge of the theme is by not only
using visual references with the different posters on the specific animals that help us, what they
provide for us and facts about the animals, but my table also includes practical elements such as
the students getting the chance to experience what it is like to milk a cow, shed a sheep’s wool,
take honey out of a bee hive and collect chicken eggs from a patch. Within those practical
elements there also includes activities where the students get to be in the role of a sniffer dog and
sniff out what is the bad smell and with being a watch dog and finding the dangers in the images
using a magnifying glass. A fun experiment is included where the students can practically see and
participate in showing how a bee can pollinate from flower to flower.
These elements that I have included in my table use all the teaching methods to obtain knowledge
with it being practical, visual, experimental, and creative. The story books added onto the table
are all connected to the topic for the students to independently read and obtain knowledge.
Themes tables are all about the students getting to go and explore a topic freely which my theme
table brings along. The different colours used stimulate young learners in wanting to observe and
will ultimately encourage the idea of learning for the students to partake in. I have also added a
fantasy element by making animal puppets for the students to engage in imaginative play around
the topic. This creatively allows the students to use the element of storytelling to grasp the
knowledge and understanding of the topic in new and inventive ways.
 PART B: Natural Science investigation using an Inquiry-based Approach [35 marks]

Subject Life Skills

Content Area Beginning Knowledge (Natural science)

Sub-topic/ Lesson CAPS page number: 57

focus Bees and how they support pollination.

Scientific process
skills developed 1. Observing = The students use there 5 senses to identify how
in the
2. pollen baskets look and feel, and the different textures of
investigation (a
minimum of three) materials used for the investigation.

2. Communication = The students will communicate to their peers

in their allocated groups their ideas and solutions for the
investigation though written planning, drawings, labelling
and group discussions.

3. Comparing = The students will compare with one another in a

group discussion the advantages and disadvantages of
pollen sacks and how they collect food back to their hive.

4. Inferring = The students will draw conclusions from what they

have observed from their investigation solutions and
improve their existing model with a group discussion to
support it.
 Learner’s Prior Knowledge
(What skills, knowledge and values do they need to understand before your lesson)

Prior to the investigation, the students would have been taught about the process of pollination,
how bees can pollenate, and how bees carry their food and pollen.

The students would first have been taught about what pollination is and its importance for
nature. Pollination is the main mode of reproduction in plants. This is due to the transfer of
pollen from one flower to another which results in fertilisation. After the transfer of pollen from
the male plant to the female plant’s stigma, the female can produce seeds and fruit. This
process of pollination is important in the production of many crops, and the overall regulation
of nature. (Kornei, 2017) The students will therefore be able to explain what pollination is and
discuss why pollination is important before the investigation.

The students will then be thought how bees are an important factor to the pollination process
as bees are able to pollenate many flowers at a time when looking for food. Bees adapt well
to pollination which helps our plants grow. Bees can pollinate by attaching pollen to their body
and transferring the pollen from one flower to another. As stated by Herren & Potts (2013),
Some bee species are also specially developed to pollinate plants and without them those
plants would be less well-pollinated. (Herren & Potts, 2013)
The students will be able, before the investigation, to describe how bees are able to pollinate.

The students would have seen how bees are able to carry around their food in what is called
‘Pollen baskets’ which sits at the back of their hind legs. These pollen baskets, which include
nectar in them, accumulates 30% of the bee’s body weight and look like little sacks on each
side. (Bee Pollen, 2022) These pollen baskets mainly support the process in bringing food
back to the hive but can also be useful in the pollination process by carrying more pollen. For
bees to be able to fill their pollen baskets, they must visit between 50 and 100 flowers a day.
When the baskets are full, the bees return to the hive and transfer the pollen to the younger
bees who store it for food. At least 50 trips are needed to bring back 1 gram of pollen to the
hive. (Why do we need bees? 2022) The students will be able to identify what a pollen basket
is and explain the use for them before the investigation takes place.
Three Lesson Objectives/ Outcomes
One of the outcomes should be a scientific process skill.
By the end of the lesson, the learners will be able to:

1. The students will be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of pollen baskets.
2. The students will be able to describe what a pollen basket looks like and its characteristics.
3. The students will be able to communicate their ideas and put them practically into their
investigation.

A detailed explanation of the investigation

Engage Phase:
During the engage phase, the teacher and the students will have a discussion on prior
knowledge to the investigating going over pollination, how bees pollinate and what bees use to
pollinate. This discussion will involve questions that a few students will answer in the beginning.
There will be a short role play for the students to join in on where half the class are bees, and
the other half are flowers. The bees must then show the class the process of pollination where
they buzz over to one flower and then to the next to enable pollination. To Follow to discussion,
there will be images displaying pollen basket to see if the students know what they are and
what they are used for before the teacher explains. The teacher will help the students in taking their
prior knowledge to the bee and how that knowledge can be applied to the new ideas of how to
improve the pollen baskets in the investigation. This discussion will be done over one lesson.

Explore Phase:
During the Explore phase, the teacher will put the class into groups of 3 for the students to
share knowledge and ideas to one another to ensure learning and new concepts captured.
The groups of the students will be given the opportunity to discuss with one another the
advantages and disadvantages of pollen baskets and how they can be improved that they will
later present in another lesson. The students must write down their advantages and
disadvantages on paper to plan out what they will discuss later. The students can use visual
examples and characteristic examples comparing bees to other pollinators such as butterflies
and insects. This discussion will take place over the span of two lessons.
Explain Phase:
During the explaining phase, the students will get the opportunity to discuss to the class what
they have come hip with interns of the advantages and disadvantages of pollen baskets done
in the previous phase. This will be a group discussion where the other groups are able to ask
questions to the group discussing to learn and understand how one group thinks compared to
the other. After the discussion, the groups will reform to draw up their ideas on how to
improve pollen baskets with the materials available to them. After the planning is done with
the drawings complete and labelling done, the students will present the ideas to the teacher
for the go ahead to make their solutions. This discussion and planning phase will take three
lessons to complete order for the students to come to conclusions and to allow all the groups
to be able to share their knowledge and ideas with everyone.

Elaborate Phases:
At the elaborate phase, the students will be given the opportunity to apply their solutions to
their designs and make them from the materials provided. The students in a group must all
work together and contribute equally to the task ahead in order for the investigation to be
successful. Once the solutions have been made over a period of two lessons, the students
must test them out and draw conclusions from them in order to see if their solution was
achieved. These conclusions and determinations must be written down in order to present to
the rest of the class what they made, how this is a solution and if the solution was successful.
If the solution was not achieved, the teacher will give the opportunity for the groups to go back
to their designs to re-examine and to come up with new ideas to get to the desired solution.

Evaluate Phase
At the evaluation stage, the students in their groups will get the reflect and review what they
have learnt from this investigation and their understanding on the topic of bees, pollination
and how this helps us. The teacher will provide the opportunity for the students to have a
group discussion in discussing these factors and to review what others have done and
improved on. Questions will be asked by the teacher to aid in the group discussion to get the
students to talk about what they have learnt and if the outcome of the lesson has been
achieved.
 List of Resources

1. Paper plates
2. Tape
3. Glue
4. Scissors
5. Permanent Marker
6. Toilet rolls
7. Feathers
8. Wool
9. Pencil
10. Wire
11. Paint
12. Paint brushes
13. Ruler
14. Kabab sticks
Photographs of resources and layout
Caps page:
PART C: Essay on the Teaching and Learning of Natural Science using an Inquiry-based
Approach [35 marks]

Introduction:
Teaching is an art form. Putting together lessons to motivate students into the process of
lifelong learning involves many processes and planning. Enrichment (2019), states that the
key to success in lessons for students is ensuring the engagement with any material they
are learning. (Enrichment, what is inquiry-based learning (and how is it effective) 2019) For
some students, the traditional classroom approach can leave them unmotivated and
unengaged. The Inquiry Based Approach is a handy tool in teaching for learners who
benefit from hands on learning methods that have deemed importance. The Inquiry based
approach shows benefits of engagement, teamwork building, group discussions and
analysing the progression required to tackle the approach. The inquiry-based approach is
much like experimental learning. This approach, stated by Enrichment (2019), actively
engages students in the active learning process. (Enrichment, what is inquiry-based
learning (and how is it effective) 2019) Using the Inquiry based approach the students get
the opportunity to actively explore topics in more depth and learn from their own first-hand
experiences. This is proven to work 75% more than traditional learning (Enrichment, what
is inquiry-based learning (and how is it effective) 2019).

Body paragraphs:
The benefits of this approach support effective learning tremendously. As students are
building on topics in class, the approach builds critical thinking skills which can be used to
improve elements of learning in any subject, as well as in day-to-day life. Students can
share their own ideas to their peers and classmates and are able to ask questions able the
topic. (Enrichment, what is inquiry-based learning (and how is it effective) 2019) The
Inquiry based approach can easily be combined with collaborative grouping. Students
explore, discuss, and come up with creative ways to approach a complex task, learning
more as a team than they would individually (Lab4U, 2020) The teacher, in this instance, is
able to access the students in more ways than one when applying this learning technique
and approach.

Using the Inquiry based approach, Inquiry skills involving the scientific process skills are
heavily used and influenced. These skills involve engaging, exploring, explaining,
elaborating, and evaluating. By using these skills, you can achieve a successful structure
within lessons. The engaging phase involves stimulating a child's interest by
understanding their prior knowledge about a concept. How this was developed throughout
the lesson was by giving the students an opportunity to express what they already knew
about the concept and assisting them in beginning to make connections between prior
knowledge and new ideas. The exploring phase involves discovering and exploring using
hands-on investigations and activities where the child is actively involved in working with
their peers. How this was developed thought the lesson was by giving the students the
opportunity to learn from one another to make sense of new concepts and were given the
chance to describe it in their own words. The explaining phase involves supporting the
students in developing scientific explanations based on their experiences. How this was
developed throughout the lesson was by giving the students the opportunity to explain
what they know and work to develop further questions about what they would like to know.
The elaborating phase involves the students applying the concepts and knowledge they
have learnt to new situations which allows them to develop a deeper understanding of the
concept. How this was developed throughout the lesson was by encouraging the students
to compare and discuss their ideas with their peers and by encouraging improvement to
me made to their ideas. The evaluating phase involves allowing the students to reflect on
and review their learning and understanding. How this was developed throughout the
lesson was by giving the students the opportunity to share and discuss what they have
learnt and the changes to their understanding of the concept.

How my theme table supports the discovery social science is by introducing the
relationships between animals and people and how we depend on animal for their
products. One of the main animals that is featured in the theme table are bees and
introducing their diversity and how dependant we are on them for keeping the flow of
nature balanced. The support in the discovery of natural science that my theme table
provides is by showing life and living with the balance of animals and people. We as
people rely on animals for food, clothing, materials and more which is a highly important
factor to introduce to the students. By showing them practical experiences of what animals
provide for us, they can better understand their importance. With regards to the disciple of
technology, my theme table features an experiment for the students to partake in which
allows them to ask questions and process information using the steppingstones of a
technological based approach. The students can investigate and come up with ideas and
solutions to the experiment presented.
Although the benefits of the Inquiry based approach are strong, teachers still find
challenges in the teaching of this process. As stated by Victoria (2021), Some common
problems with inquiry-based learning include students’ inability to recognise when they’ve
been successful in their work. (Victoria, 2021) When using the Inquiry based approach,
teachers find that preparing activities and tasks with highly structures assessment models
do not always work out well. The approach, for some student, may bring along
unnecessary anxiety and confusion with the lack of rigid assessment structures. How
teachers can overcome this challenge is by ensuring that students know ahead of time the
process rather than the product. As stated by Victoria (2021), The inquiry process is
personalised, and therefore, learning goals also need to be personalised. The success that
students seek will be obtained by them reflecting on the process and questions asked.
(Victoria, 2021) Another challenge face is the difficulty in managing teamwork between
students in the classroom. Many a times there are dominating personalities that outshine
quiet and shy personalities in a group which can lead to problems. Finding a balance
between merging different students with different personalities can be difficult especially
when trying to create teams with like-minded students which is crucial to the process.
(Victoria, 2021) How teachers can overcome this challenge is by addressing the work as a
“team” effort and not a “group” effort. When many students hear the that, they must work
on something in a group, the thought process Leeds to problems of fighting, disagreement,
and unequal distribution of work. Using the word “team” instead of “group”, for many
students, reframes the idea off working with others as the word “team” emphasises the
idea of shared value, openness, and collaboration where students can end up
compromising on an end goal. (Victoria, 2021)

Conclusion:
This Approach has many benefits when it comes to the learning side of teaching. It
teaches skills needed for all areas of learning, fosters curiosity in students, deepens
students’ understanding of topics, allows students to take ownership of their learning,
increases engagement with the material, and overall creates a love of learning. (Lab4U,
2020) Beginner’s knowledge and its disciplines holds many important skills that students
will take with them through life which only increases the bond that one can share with life-
long learning. As a future teacher, I strive to incorporate this approach and put all the
benefits to work.
REFERENCE LIST:

Bee Pollen (2022) HoneyGirlOrganics. Available at:

https://honeygirlorganics.com/pages/bee-pollen (Accessed: October 10, 2022).

Enrichment (ed.) (2019) What is inquiry-based learning (and how is it effective)?,

GradePower Learning. Available at: https://gradepowerlearning.com/what-is-inquiry-
based-
learning/#:~:text=An%20inquiry%2Dbased%20learning%20approach,topics%20they%20a
re%20interested%20in. (Accessed: October 5, 2022).
Guido, M. (2017) What Is Inquiry-Based Learning: 7 Benefits & Strategies You Need to
Know, Prodigy education. Available at: https://www.prodigygame.com/main-
en/blog/inquiry-based-learning-definition-benefits-strategies/ (Accessed: October 10,
2022).

Herren, G. and Potts, S.G. (2013) “Pollination,” Crop Pollination, 1(1). Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/pollination (Accessed:
October 10, 2022).

Kornei, K. (2017) Honey bees fill 'saddlebags' with pollen. here's how they keep them
gripped tight, Science.org. Available at: https://www.science.org/content/article/honey-
bees-fill-saddlebags-pollen-here-s-how-they-keep-them-gripped-tight (Accessed: October
25, 2022).

Lab4U (ed.) (2020) 9 reasons why you should implement inquiry-based learning in your
classroom, Lab4U. Available at: https://lab4u.co/en/science-education/9-reasons-why-you-
should-implement-inquiry-based-learning-in-your-classroom/ (Accessed: October 5, 2022).

Quigley, C. et al. (2011) Challenges to Inquiry Teaching and Suggestions for How to Meet
Them, 20(1), pp. 1–7. Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ940939.pdf
(Accessed: October 10, 2022).

Victoria (2021) 4 of the most common problems with inquiry-based learning and how to
solve them, Learning by Inquiry. Available at: https://www.learningbyinquiry.com/4-of-the-
most-common-problems-with-inquiry-based-learning-and-how-to-solve-them/ (Accessed:
October 25, 2022).
Why do we need bees? (2022) Friends of the Earth. Available at:
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/nature/why-do-we-need-
bees#:~:text=As%20bees%20visit%20plants%20seeking,flowers%20enough%20to%20fe
ed%20themselves. (Accessed: October 25, 2022).