Imagine turning your whole school curriculum into a series of questions. Imagine walking into your classroom and beginning a new unit, not with the statement, “Photosynthesis is…” with the question, “What is photosynthesis?”

Imagine what happens next. After the statement comes more statements, perhaps a lot more statements, and then the questions about the statements. But if we stick with the question, not as a teaser before we give the answer, but as the first question in a series of questions, as the beginning of an investigation by the whole class, an investigation including group-work, individual research, and experiments all leading to summary information on charts, boards, and computer screens. Imagine all of this leading to the final day in which the class’s findings are summarized. A question can be a trick to get students interested in the lecture to follow, or it can be the beginning of an exciting process that involves students in the active pursuit of important answers. And this is the key point: they will be learning about photosynthesis in the way people have always learned, by asking important questions and seeking answers. Anthropologists call it our species trick, the thing we do that distinguishes us from all other creatures. When they are enveloping this attitude and the skills involved, students are learning to be active, questioning self-directed learners for the rest of their lives.

Wiggins and McTeghe, in their excellent book, Understanding By Design (ASCD, 1998), urge teachers to change their whole curriculum from statements to key questions that lead to the development of basic investigative skills.

And Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School, in Devens, Massachusetts, is a school in which the whole curriculum is built around inquiry. Each year an essential question is addressed school-wide. The whole school—all students in all classes with all teachers are asked to address as part of their studies such questions as, “What is community? What is change? and “What really matters?” This essential question generates sub-questions such as, “What are the keys to good relationships?” “What marks the boundaries of a community?” and “What elements define a community?” In classes teachers and students are also addressing other questions, such as, “What is a function?" “What is good writing?” and “Is light a particle or a wave?” These questions are addressed through a variety of action learning activities, including class investigations, group projects, and individual research.

Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School has introduced a number of very useful strategies to guide student progress and involve them in assessment. They have, for example, developed rubrics to outline the scale of progress and criteria of excellence to define an outstanding performance provide some of the best examples we have seen. The school program focuses on eleven basic skill areas:

Reading Spanish language
Writing Mathematics/problem solving
Oral presentation Listening
Artistic expression Systems thinking and mathematical modeling
Research Mathematics communication
Scientific investigation

Students study two integrated domains: Arts and Humanities (History, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Literature and the Expressive Arts) and Mathematics, Science and Technology. Students in multi-age groups progress through three divisions to graduation. Each Division represents roughly two years of traditional schooling (e.g. Division 1: grades 7 and 8). Students move to a higher division by organizing a ‘Gateway Portfolio’ for presentation to a small audience including their advisors, teachers, parents, peers and members of the community. Students keep portfolios of their best work and select from them for their Gateway presentation. They also include a letter reflecting upon their progress over the two year cycle. The presentation is preserved on video-tape and as the program description states, “we honor it by our presence and congratulatory rituals.”

At the end of every year students assemble a portfolio that displays the progress they have achieved in the eleven essential skill areas during their studies. Assessment of performance in the skills -– whether by students, teachers, parents or others –- is guided by two instruments: An Holistic Rubric which outlines a continuum of progress for the skill, and The Criteria for Excellence which outlines specifically what students must be able to do to say that they have achieved excellence in the skill. The figure that follows is the Holistic Rubric for The Scientific Investigation skill. Note that there are four basic levels of progress. There are no grades, only these guides for students as they draw up their individual plans and to students, and all other interested parties, as they assess their progress.

Just Beginning

You show limited understanding of the question you are investigating.
Your hypothesis cannot be tested with your plan, or you have no plan for testing it.
Your physical observations are inaccurate or not recorded in a useful way.
You have not considered alternative explanations for what you observe, or shown logical reasoning in drawing your conclusion.
You do not verify your results or identify sources of possible error or bias.
Your explanation of your conclusions does not use accurate math-science vocabulary or visual representations, or it is unclear to the audience.
You conduct the investigation but do not comment about what it might mean.
You do not complete the investigation, or you show no evidence of reflecting on your process and thinking

Approaches Division 1 Standards

You show some understanding of the question you are investigating.
You present a testable hypothesis but your plan for testing it is incomplete.
Your physical observations are incomplete or imprecise.
You present alternative explanations for what you observe, but your reasoning is only partly correct in drawing conclusions.
You try to verify your results but you miss sources of possible error or bias.
Your explanation of your conclusions correctly uses some math-science vocabulary or visual representations.
You conduct the investigation and make some comments about what it might mean.
You attempted most of the investigation, and you show some evidence of reflecting on your process and thinking.

Meets Division 1 Standards (“Yes, and…” “Yes, but…”)

You understand the question you are investigating.
You present a hypothesis and a workable plan for testing it.
Your physical observations are complete and accurate.
You present alternative explanations for what you observe, and your conclusions suggest logical reasoning, but that reasoning is not clearly explained.
You try to verify your results and identify at least one possible source of error and bias.
Your explanation of your conclusions correctly uses appropriate math-science vocabulary and visual representations.
You conduct the investigation and connect your conclusion to other ideas you know about, or to a “real world” use.
You attempted the entire investigation, and you show some evidence of reflecting on your process and thinking.

Exceeds Division 1 Standards (“Yes!”)

You understand the question you are investigating and identify the variables or special factors that may affect your investigation before starting.
You present a hypothesis and an efficient or sophisticated plan for testing it.
Your physical observations are extensive, precise, and sustained.
You present alternative explanations for what you observe, and you clearly explain the reasons for your logical conclusions.
You verify your results and identify several possible sources of error and bias.
Your explanation of your conclusions uses sophisticated math-science vocabulary and effective visual representations.
You conduct the investigation and connect your conclusion to other ideas you know about, or to a “real world” use.
You attempted more than the required investigation, and you reflect thoughtfully on your process and thinking.

The Criteria for Excellence in Scientific Investigation, which follows, outlines exactly what students will be able to do when their performance is outstanding. While the standards and progressions remain stable from grades 7-12, students are expected to address more difficult tasks, work more independently and become more aware of the meaning of their own work and the work of others.

Framing the Question

You understand or come up with the question to investigate.
You collect information and ideas about your question.
You identify the variables or special factors that may affect your investigation.

Approach: How You Conduct the Investigation

You come up with a hypothesis.
You make a plan for testing the hypothesis.
You identify and use appropriate scientific equipment.
You make and record physical observations.

Reasoning: How You Evaluate What You Find

You consider alternative explanations for what you observe.
You use evidence to draw a logical conclusion.
You identify possible sources of error and bias in the investigation.
You verify the results of the investigation.
You revise your explanation if necessary.

Communicating What You Find

You explain your ideas and procedures to others in a form they can understand.
You use correct mathematical and scientific vocabulary, equations, or notations to explain your ideas.
You use graphs, tables, charts, models, diagrams, or drawings to represent your findings.

So What: Outcomes of Your Investigation

You connect your ideas to other ideas in math or science, or to a “real world” use.
You use data to respond to questions or comments from others.
You reflect on your own scientific process and thinking.

What You Try

You attempt the entire investigation process or go beyond it to do more.

These are just two of the many methods that the faculty at Francis W Parker have developed to help students become skilled learners at school and for life. We salute them.