Criteria for a good scienceline question include "can't find answer in textbook or encyclopedia", and "some reference to background thinking to give the University scientist a context" and " make it focused and specific".
The questions are formulated in two different ways:
1. As a classroom science activity, students pair up and brainstorm what questions they might have about science interests (the hard part is getting the habit of recognizing what an "interest" is). Each student generates 3-5 questions, they read them to each other, help edit for comprehensibility, then select the two they think are the best.
The partners bring this to their 4 person lab group, which in turn selects the 1 or 2 best out of all of them. Students then read these questions to the group, and we discuss whether the questions meet our criteria for a good question, or ways to improve them.
The finished questions are entered into e-mail, and the eagerly awaited responses are copied and left out for sharing usually within the week.
2. Questions burst out as part of classroom discussion or individual inquiry. Student thn writes it, teacher reviews the wording and meeting of criteria, and student e-mails question to scienceline.
When appropriate, class sets are copied, and we read and discuss the several different answers to each question, using a variety of strategies such as jig-sawing the reading by group, or selecting your favorite question to read, evaluate, and report the answers.
Links to Sample Questions and Answers:
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