Inquiry Kits

These kits were developed by the ASD-N Science and Cross-Curricular Team in 2022 and are designed to create a curious ‘spark’ that can lead to further investigation and inquiry while building important process skills such as observing and questioning. Schools with French Immersion  received English and French materials. Each school received one kit in 2022.

Each kit (rolling toolbox) contains:

• A binder with 11 Inquiry Activity Cards and *formative assessment checklists
• 1 Read aloud for each activity to support literacy connections (11 English books and 11 French books if applicable)
• Materials and equipment to support each activity (including some consumables)
• Smarter Science Framework document
• ‘Dive into Inquiry’ by Trevor MacKenzie

To maximize the benefit of the Inquiry Kit, we suggest that it remain intact. Teachers may decide to create a logbook system for signing the kit in and out. As consumables are depleted, keep track so that the school can replenish (a list of materials is included on the back of the binder and a digital copy with links can be found on this page).

In Science, teachers are encouraged to facilitate learning through inquiry-based, hands-on/minds-on active approaches situated in real-world contexts. This allows students to make connections with their own lives and the community in which they live.  Students will become excited and curious about the concepts and phenomena under study, and they then become motivated to learn.

*where the kits were created during implementation of the renewed curricula, the skills in the formative assessment checklist refer to SCOs (and not skill descriptors) but can be easily adapted to the NB Curriculum Framework.

Please reach out to Krista Nowlan ([email protected]) for further support.