INQUIRY

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL (I-AIM)

NGSS scientific and engineering practices in italicized red.

STAGE

Explain

Explanations

Patterns

Explore and Investigate

Experiences

Question

EPE

FUNCTION

DESCRIPTION

Experience
Phenomena

Provide students with an experience(s) with a relevant phenomenon, or consider

a familiar experience(s).

Establish a Question

Pose a question about phenomena that will drive the overall inquiry and provide
a sense or purpose. That question should be comprehensible, relevant and
motivating. Asking Questions and Defining Problems

Elicit Students Initial

Ideas

Invite students to share initial ideas about possible answers to the question.
Probe students ideas to find out how they understand the question. Developing
(mental) models (to explain how/why the phenomena appears

Explore Phenomena
For Patterns

Provide opportunities for students to explore scientific phenomena related to

the question to find and understand patterns. This includes:

Conducting investigations to try out and test ideas. Obtaining

Evaluating and Communicating Information, Planning and Carrying out
Investigations

Making and recording observations of first hand experiences Planning

and Carrying out Investigations

Looking for patterns in observations Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Explore Ideas About

Patterns

Provide opportunities for students to share their ideas about patterns and
evidence for the patterns Obtaining Evaluating and Comunicating Information

Identify Patterns

Compare/come to agreement about observed patterns

Identify and resolve disagreements

Articulate and document the identified patterns Using Mathematics

and Computational Thinking

Students Explain
Patterns

Provide opportunities for students to express their ideas. They can:

Share their own explanations (reasons) for the patterns

Share ideas of how their explanations answer the question.

Engaging In Argumentation from Evidence, Developing/Revising (mental)
Models, Constructing Explanations

Introduce Scientific
Ideas

Provide accurate and comprehensible representations of the scientific idea(s).

This is a grade level appropriate scientific explanation for the patterns students
observed. Obtaining and Communicating Information
Help students compare their own explanations with the scientific explanation

Compare Student and provided by the teacher. Students can compare, test and revise their own
explanations. Students use the scientific explanation to answer the question.
Scientific Ideas

Reflect

Application

Apply

Evaluating and Communicating Information

Apply to Similar
Contexts with
Support

Provide opportunities for students to apply the scientific explanation in similar

context with support through modeling and coaching. Students can answer
questions about new experiences involving the same patterns and explanation.
Using (mental) Models, Constructing Explanations

Apply to New
Contexts with Fading
Support

Provide opportunities for students to apply the scientific explanation in novel

contexts with diminishing support from the teacher. Using (mental) Models,
Constructing Explanations

Reflect on changes in
their thinking/
understanding

Help students compare their new ideas to their initial ideas and reflect on how
their ideas have changed and why.

Reflect on doing
science

Help students reflect on what they have been doing and how it is like what
scientists do.

Developed by Kristin L. Gunckel, Christina V. Schwarz, Edward L. Smith and Beth A. Covitt Michigan State University