Carolina Chemistry Investigations for SPARKscience

Design of the labs:

The SPARKlabs™ facilitate the transition between traditional teacher-centered activities and inquiry-based, student-centered activities. The two-part SPARKlabs consist of a guided investigation in which students participate in a structured exploration of a core chemistry topic, followed by an open inquiry investigation in which students design their own experiment around the same topic. The Carolina Chemistry Investigations for SPARKscience help students develop the fundamental abilities of the inquiry process, while learning the core chemistry topics necessary for success in your chemistry course.

The inquiry-based SPARKlabs follow the well-known learning cycle of focus, explore, explain, and experiment.

• Focus
  In Focus, students respond to brainstorming questions about a particular topic designed to make them think about their prior knowledge in the context of a real-world scenario.
• Explore
  In Explore, the SPARKlab guides students through a hands-on, technology-based, guided inquiry investigation that models the scientific process. The lab assists students in gathering, organizing and analyzing the data, and supports development of their knowledge of the topic. Students become familiar with the processes necessary to complete the open inquiry investigation.
• Explain
  In Explain, thorough analysis and synthesis questions help students develop a deeper understanding of the topic, confront misconceptions, and communicate their data and conclusions. The teacher acts as a facilitator, guiding students in their development.
• Experiment
  In Experiment, students demonstrate their mastery of the concepts studied in Explore by applying what they learned in the context of the original real-world scenario. The teacher observes, assesses, and directs the students’ progress toward the desired learning goals. Evaluation is in the form of the design and completion of an additional experiment.