Often students reply to questions with quick, glib answers. However, given the opportunity and genuine interest from their teachers, students easily generate thoughtful discussions that give rise to more questions, ideas, hypotheses, models, experiments, etc. In other words, the practice of science!

In these videos, the teachers talk about some of their experiences when launching the water cycle exploration. You might want to watch these videos more than once, and you may also want to view the transcripts or print them for reference and taking notes.

In the first video, Chris discusses one way that he has moved his class beyond answering the launching question with just the word "evaporation."

Video 1

Reflecting on the video. What does Chris do to encourage students to think more deeply about the launching question? What are some other strategies that might help the class be more thoughtful?

In the next video, Bonnie talks about the one word answers students offered on Day 1 of the unit, and the more elaborate responses after students had a day or so to think about the puddle question. It makes sense that students would have more to say after they have had time to think about the puddle question, so it was fortuitous that Bonnie could make the decision to allow that opportunity.

Video 2

Reflecting on the video. Watch the video again. It's worth noting that while Bonnie is talking, she is referring to notes she has made during class. If you spend time with the extended case study, you will discover that Bonnie is an avid note taker. How does taking notes during student discussions support being a responsive teacher? What are some alternatives to taking notes?

In the video below, Donna describes why she was not pleased with how the opening question played out in her class, and she discusses her next move. It's likely that Donna's next move is influenced by Bonnie's discussion in the video above. Many times during the Responsive Teaching Project, teachers emphasized the importance of meeting together to discuss the issues surrounding being responsive teachers.

Video 3

Reflecting on the video. What thoughts do you have about launching a module that you plan to teach responsively? What are some characteristics of a good launching question? What challenges might you encounter and how might you respond? Whether you are using the RTS Resource (this website) alone or working with a group of colleagues, it's probably easiest to consider these questions relative to an actual candidate launching question, so make one up to get started! ☺