In an inquiry cycle, other peers review an assignment or assessment that relates to whatever focus question we are trying to ask at the time; in this case, the question was, "How do we scaffold to support critical thinking?" The teachers looked over student work samples of Lab #4: Incline Plane Lab. There, they were able to identify some strategies to improve upon the structure of the lab, as well as ways to integrate science more easily for the whole department. This inquiry cycle is very helpful as a teacher, as I am able to get input from other science teachers on how I can improve learning and scaffold more critical thinking for my students, as well as get insight from them on how certain students might be performing with these scaffolds in place versus their own scaffolding.

One notable workshop that I attended was about project-based learning. Project-based learning is very important, and it was very intriguing how schools in Compton were able to create such amazing learning environments and opportunities for young students. At STEM Academy, we currently have a PBL project for every class, in which students take a couple weeks out of the year to engage in a multi-subject learning experience. From the workshop, I noticed that the PBLs that the middle schoolers did were very innovative and seemed more like an ambitious science fair project, and it emphasized the importance of engineering and designing solutions technologically. This is very contrasting to my experience, as the presentations that were done for PBLs at STEM focus on an essential question that ties a lot of the subjects that participate in the projects together (e.g. algebra, physics, biomedical, computer science). I feel like I would want to learn more about implementing this into wherever I start to teach in the future, or continue to support project-based learning, as I think it is an important tool to engage students in creative and critical thought.