Inductive Reasoning Lessons

Inspired!

 I was just too tired the first 4.5 years of my daughter's life to dabble in my passion for teaching. But just recently, my mind has caught up on those first 6 months of sleep loss, or I have just now gotten into a groove. And out of nowhere, I read a whole book for pleasure, cleaned the grout on my floors and posted some items on TPT all in one week. It's almost too much! So what has inspired me lately? Inductive Reasoning Lessons with my 5th and 6th graders. For the past few years, I have approached teaching Greek and Latin Roots using Inductive Reasoning as an opener to our word list using this fantastic resource:

Learning Works Greek and Latin Roots - Grade Level 4 to 8 Paperback – April, 2004 by Trisha Callella

With Inductive Reasoning, students look for patterns in details and then formulate big ideas based on the information analyzed.  Hilda Taba, researched and advocated for this type of teaching in 60s.

I find that this type of learning is how I personally retain knowledge best, and it is VERY motivating for our students.  

"Oh I love this!" jerks me from my Monday morning daze when I open this lesson on the front board. Did I just hear "I love" a vocabulary lesson from a 5th grade boy? Yep.

How it works:
1. My amazing teacher colleague and I select a word list from the book. Each list is 10 words long and focuses on a Greek or Latin Root.
2. Then we put a notebook file together, which includes picture clues and a pre-filled table with shades. You can purchase it at my TPT store HERE.

3. We pass out this worksheet for the students to record the lesson as we go along.

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4. We also put a copy of the pictures into our shared document account for students to access on the classroom iPads.

5. Then I release the gates.  I allow the students to talk about what they think the pictures represent, telling them that they are all related in some way.

6. I reel them in with some bell ringing and zero signals, and then we attempt to take turns, sharing ideas. The first time this lesson is presented to a group of students, they don't know what to make of it, and are not as vocal. But for subsequent lessons, students are eager to "find" the Big Idea and share ideas.

7. I ask that students do not blurt out the Big Idea until I specifically ask for it to be revealed.

8. A student will say, "Is #1 depressed?" (It's dejected).

9. I reply, "You are on the right track, keeping thinking!"

10. As students guess correctly, the word is revealed with a tap of the screen shade.

11. After a while, I allow students to share their thoughts on the Big Idea of the word list. 

What is the Root Word all these words have/will have in common?

12. Then, students can start to generate ideas about the Rule of the Big Idea.

What do you think the Root Word means?  

With this book, the definitions are written in student friendly terms with like terms in each of the definitions (all definitions will have "throw" in them).

13. Finally, students use the Rule to generate definitions that have a similar Pattern following the Rule. I won't reveal a definition unless the students use "the Rule" in their definition. Generating definitions will happen simultaneously while students are still guessing the vocabulary words.

14. Most of the words and definitions can be generated using this approach, which ends up being both inductive and deductive reasoning. Sometimes, I need to assist with a word/definition once in a while.  

15. Then we practice using the words during our "Daily 5" (actually Daily 3 for our class) using these activities available at my store on TPT. The book also has a few other activities we use during the week, which includes an assessment we also use.

We use the Icons of Depth and Complexity in our classroom, 

but these same ideas can be used without using the icons.

Recently, I applied Inductive Reasoning when introducing 

Geography of Ancient India and Ancient Egypt 

with our 6th Grade Social Studies Curriculum.  

Download it for free at my TPT Store.

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IMS Bove