Inquiry Based Activity

When we started with our Inquiry Based Activity I was not sure what direction I wanted to go with mine. We made our IBA's through our class wiki and by the end of the activity I honestly felt like it was a great way to use technology in the classroom. My IBA was for 1st grade science and was all about learning more about sea animals like sea fish and sea mammals. I split up the students in groups of 4 and each member would pick 2 mammals or fish (or one of each) to study independently! Once the students did independent research on their 2 sea animals they would answer the same five questions for both of their animals. the questions were: 1. Did you pick a sea mammal or fish? 2. What sea mammal/fish did you pick? 3. What is the average lifespan of your sea mammal/fish? 4. What color(s) is your sea mammal/fish? 5. What does your sea mammal/fish eat?. After students finished answering their questions they would return to their groups and take turns reporting their findings on their chosen animals. By having each student do independent research we know they are doing their portion of the work, but they are also working together to gain information on all of the sea animals. Wiki's are wonderful tools for the classroom and I definitely want to use them in my classroom.