Hand's-on Inquiry in Fifth Grade Science

The following article by Bradford Hardie and Sam Woolford appears in the latest issue of Saint David's Magazine.

A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair, and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.” A great deal has changed since 1954 when Reader’s Digest published Alan Beck’s essay, “What Is A Boy?”—a mere three years after the founding of Saint David’s School. What has not changed in the last seven decades is the exploratory nature of our boys. The idea that learning can be messy is a common thread in the hands-on learning experiences throughout the Fifth Grade science curriculum at Saint David’s, and it all begins with a question.

In Fifth Grade science class in the fall, boys find themselves asking one question, over and over: “How can we make our work easier?” While the transition from Fourth Grade to Fifth can be a big challenge for some, this question is not about schoolwork. Fifth graders learn about the principle of work in physics by measuring how much force is required to move an object a specific distance. Their exploration begins when they are challenged to create a lever out of binder clips and a meter stick to lift a load. Upon success, they are immediately given their next challenge: Can you lift the same load with half the force? The only way to find out: try, and try again. In fact, it is in their best interest to fail.

The more they fail, the more opportunities the boys have to learn something. This experiential approach to learning is a cornerstone of inquiry in the science classroom. We, as science teachers, get to enjoy observing this process unfold.  The boys’ assembly of moveable pulley systems from piles of parts is a great example. When their quadruple pulley system succeeds in making a hanging weight feel as light as a pencil, teams erupt in cheers. When the rope slacks and pulleys crash to the floor, other teams regroup and discuss their strategy to rebuild. Either way, the learning process is about the experience: Testing a theory in practice by building a simple machine, measuring and recording results, and using data to prove what they observe.

Later in the fall, boys design and engineer their own vehicles to move a load across the room, and compete to see which team can make their work the easiest. Their design choices about the size and configuration of their wheel and axle systems, strategies to reduce friction, and even the best way to measure the force needed to drive their cars are not random. They are informed by their experiences building, testing, and improving simple machines based on evidence they’ve collected through trial and error. Each of these experiences is one rung on a ladder that fifth graders ascend as they learn to become more sophisticated, disciplined, and rigorous scientists. 

By the time their Genetics unit begins in the winter, the boys are ready to tackle the standards that define professional-grade laboratory experiences. Our partnership with The Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center affords the boys a look into best practices associated with DNA research. After modeling the structure of DNA and learning how its shape supports its function in a living organism, Fifth Grade scientists can apply their understanding of the scientific method to a controlled experiment: By dosing different strains of bacteria with antibiotics, can they determine which strain has undergone a genetic mutation for antibiotic resistance? In order to answer this question, boys must identify the specific variables to change, conduct patient and precise lab work to grow bacteria on petri dishes in the presence of antibiotics, and make sound hypotheses about the bacterial cultures after several days of growth. 

When they observe their results, as all scientists do, they must compare their findings against their hypotheses and determine whether their predictions were accurate. Activated by their growing knowledge of genetic mutation and their observations of the bacterial growth, their conclusions often result in more questions that could be answered through yet another carefully designed experiment. It is this ongoing engagement that is the essence of scientific inquiry.

By April, fifth graders are meticulous questioners and careful observers, and they use these skills to investigate both individual organisms in the lab, and whole ecosystems in the field. As we connect our study of genetic change to Charles Darwin’s observations of finches in the Galapagos Islands, boys begin to understand the theory of evolution by natural selection. When they are tasked with identifying the many evolutionary adaptations of a real squid, inherited over hundreds of millions of years competing for survival, the pieces truly fall into place. 

While dissecting a squid, a boy may focus intently on the toothed rings inside each individual suction cup, or the hooked beak they carefully remove from the squid’s mouth with forceps; they might be intent on manipulating the squid’s skin to change color to match the ocean environment, or removing the silvery-black ink sac to investigate how the animal can obscure its path from predators (and to write their name in squid ink); or they could look carefully at the feathery gills, and pierce the squid’s stomach to determine its last meal. While each student’s investigation of a squid may take them on a slightly different journey, each is flexing his growing scientific muscle by following his own curiosity through keen observation, just as Charles Darwin did nearly 200 years ago. 

By allowing each student to chart their own course toward applying their understanding in a shared experience, learning is deeper and more meaningful. Boys make permanent connections between their independent conclusions, the big concepts introduced in class, and the science skills practiced throughout the year. Over the course of three months in the spring, fifth graders must make use of their independent questioning, observation, and data collection skills as we venture on multiple visits into ‘the field’ that is Central Park.

Each boy takes on the study of a microcosm, a one square meter plot in the park, to answer how every component is connected. Decaying leaves, writhing earthworms, lime-green clovers, scurrying robins, patient hawks—these are the dots that boys connect to conceptualize the interdependent webs of this ecosystem. They form theories, gather evidence in journals, and record observations with all of their senses as they return to the same spot in the park time after time over the course of the spring.  Each visit bears more fruit in their understanding of the Central Park ecosystem and provides time for each boy to develop a personal responsibility for and confidence in his scientific ability. 

It may be on these visits to Central Park that our students most resemble Alan Beck’s Boy,  with a smudge of dirt on the face, or a worm in hand. However, it is also this experience that creates a foundation upon which our boys can become critical thinkers to investigate the world around them. Their questions, sure-footed experimentation, patient observation, and evidence-based inferencing will serve Saint David’s boys beyond the science classroom. This way of thinking is another tool to ensure that they be good men.

Bradford Hardie is Chair of Science and an Upper School Science Teacher at Saint David's. Sam Woolford is a Fifth Grade Homeroom Teacher and Upper School Science Teacher.

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