150 Year 8 students from Oakgrove School have successfully completed geography projects exploring microclimates around the school grounds with the help of Personal Inquiry (PI). Students have been investigating the different local climate conditions around the school, using Sciencescope sensors to measure conditions, and guided by an Activity Guide designed by the PI team. The Activity Guide provided support to help the students through the stages of their inquiry, from creating their hypothesis, to gathering data around the school, and in writing up their reports.
Personal Inquiry is a three year project, funded by the UK ESRC and EPSRC research councils. The project is developing a ‘scripted inquiry learning’ approach where students investigate a science topic with classmates by carrying out explorations between their classroom, homes and discovery centres, guided by a personal computer. The Open University and Nottingham University are working along with local secondary schools, ScienceScope (a company that develops sensing and datalogging equipment), Nottingham Museums and Galleries, and Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre.
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