Group Investigation

Definition:

Group Investigation is an organizational medium for encouraging and guiding students' involvement in learning. Students actively share in influencing the nature of events in their classroom. By communicating freely and cooperating in planning and carrying out their chosen topic of investigation, they can achieve more than they would as individuals. The final result of the group's work reflects each member's contribution, but it is intellectually richer than work done individually by the same students.

Steps:

This strategy encourages students to work cooperatively to learn content.

1. Have students identify the topic. 
2. Each team decides what resources they will need to carry out their 
 investigation. 
3. Groups gather information from a variety of sources
4. Groups prepare a final report. 
5. The class meets all together and presents their findings to one another.
 
When to use:
Use with students to help develop problem-solving skills.
 
Resources: 
The Earth and Sea Investigators Network Scientific Inquiry Resources and Connections http://www.earthsea.org/main/group.html
 
Group Investigation Planning Template 
 
http://www.ccaa.edu/~kalmesm/edu402/models/GIM/GIMframe.html

Example:

Scientific investigation is a process that differs from one investigation to another and from one investigator to another. It is important for students to understand that a scientific investigation does not follow a set series of steps written in some manual. This is what makes teaching scientific inquiry so challenging.
Perhaps the best way to learn how to investigate is to begin investigating. As students complete each new investigation, they learn -- through feedback from peers, teachers and scientists -- how to improve their next investigation. Students begin to develop a "feel" for what scientific investigation is all about.
In this classroom investigation, students first construct artificial habitats for animals. They then make observations to develop questions about animal behavior that they would like to investigate. Finally, they attempt to answer these questions by designing and carrying out original research using scientific inquiry.

Provide time for discussion as you progress through this activity. Possible discussion questions are provided which may help steer students toward analyzing the process they have completed.