This is an Inquiry Project Activity for second grade students on the topic of physical education. Students will be given a driving question, meet with classroom guests, conduct individual and group research, combine information during the creation of an informative poster, present the poster to their classmates, and debate with the other groups when all presentations are complete. 

Inquiry Project

Driving Question: Should students be required to have P.E every day of the school week?

Driving Question:

Students will work with professionals to create their standpoint on the topic of physical education. This discussion based question gives students the opportunity to study more deeply on the issue of physical education and the impact it has on students’ school day and life. This topic is extremely relevant to our students because it directly effects their everyday health and well-being. Because students are required to be active 60 minutes each day, and most students only have one gym class per week, this question allows students to form an opinion on the topic. There is more than one solution to this problem. The students will be split into 4 groups to see all solutions possible and debate and agree on what the best solution is. Our question provides opportunities for students to evaluate, analyze, present, and defend their solutions by researching their assigned group’s view on the topic, being knowledgeable about their stance, presenting their information, and debating with the class.

Grabber:

For our grabber we will bring in one representative for each group: the school nurse, a student’s parent, an older elementary student, and the principal. These guests will introduce and explain their point of view on physical education to their groups. Bringing these guests in will hook the students on the project and prompt them to ask more questions to someone who is knowledgeable about their standpoint. The grabber does not capitalize on novelty or high emotion situations. The grabber is very relevant to the students because it provides a real life example of someone with the views that their group is assigned.

Culminating Activity:

We designed this activity to be engaging and informative for our students, providing them with a fun approach to a controversial elementary school issue. The activity provides students with the opportunity to present and defend their solutions to the driving question. After the students meet with the guests and do their own research, they will create a poster of images and text as a group to present what they have learned to the class. After each group presents, a representative from each group will be chosen to debate and try to convince the class, with evidence, why their group’s point of view is correct. Even if students do not agree with the point of view that they were assigned to research and present, this project will help them back up their actual views on the topic and bring forth those feelings as the class comes to a conclusion. The activity requires students to conduct their own individual research and then collaborate with their groups to decide what information is most important to present to the class. Presenting as a group will also require the students to collaborate before, during, and after the project. To judge what students have learned from the project, we will give them a pre-activity worksheet asking them the driving question without any prompting. At the end of the two week project we will give the students a new copy of the same worksheet, asking them if their opinions have changed and what they learned through the process that influenced their new opinion and view on the topic. As teachers, we will review and compare the students’ worksheets from before and after the project. (Pre/Post Activity worksheet is below).

Inquiry Project Worksheet

Name_________________________________________

Should students be required to have physical education every school day?

Why or why not?