Inquiry Activities


What is Inquiry?

Inquiry is a major theme of the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and is emerging as a highly effective teaching practice. As stated in the NSES "full inquiry involves asking a question, completing an investigation, answering the question and presenting the results to others." This is how science is done by students of all ages as well as professional scientists. The age or background of the student may determine the difficulty of the question or sophistication of the investigation but the procedure is the same.

We have provided a list of questions that may be answered using the CBL system with a temperature or light probe and the experience gained be performing the tutorial activities. We hope that you will use these as a starting place for inquiry activities with your students and encourage them to ask their own questions.

Temperature Probe

The following are ideas for using the CBL system and temperature probe in an inquiry setting.
  1. What is the response time of the temperature probe in a gas such as air?

  2. How does the response time of a temperature probe compare to a mercury or alcohol thermometer?

  3. What is the effect of stirring on temperature response time?

  4. What is the coldest part of the night? How does the temperature change after sunset? after sunrise? Place a temperature probe outdoors (make sure it is protected from the elements) to collect data overnight or during the day.

  5. Which containers make better insulators? That is, which containers allow the slowest temperature change?

  6. How does the temperature change from the ceiling to the floor? from one end of the room to the next? Make a 3 dimensional thermal map of the classroom.

  7. Is thermal energy conserved when cold water and hot water are mixed? (use 2 temperature probes at the same time)

  8. Keep weather data throughout the year using a temperature probe, pressure sensor and relative humidity probe.

  9. How does the temperature of your local stream or river vary througout the day or year?

Light Probe

The following are ideas for using the CBL system and light probe in an inquiry setting.
  1. How does the light output compare on computer and TV screens, fluorescent and incandescent lights, etc. (use 200 samples at .005 seconds between samples)?

  2. How do light levels compare in the city versus the country (measure light pollution)?

  3. How does reflectivity and translucency vary for different materials?

  4. How does light intensity vary with the seasons?

  5. Is energy conserved in a pendulum? Use a light probe and a laser or flashlight as a photogate. Divide the width of the pendulum (a sand-filled soda can works well) by the time the light probe is blocked to get the speed of the pendulum. Use the height and the speed to calculate kinetic and potential energies.

Inquiry Activities for other CBL Probes

  1. Take force probe and/or accelerometer into an elevator.

  2. Take force probe and/or accelerometer on various playground equipment such as slides, swings, merry-go-round, etc.

  3. Take motion detector to a local bowling alley.

  4. Take a microphone to music room to test various instruments.

  5. Take magnetic field detector to make a magnetic field map around local power lines.

  6. Attach accelerometer to a track athlete to measure acceleration.

  7. Take accelerometer in a car to measure accelerations for starts and stops and around curves.

  8. Attach an accelerometer to various sports equipment such as baseball/softball bats, tennis racquets, golf clubs, la crosse, hockey sticks, etc.