Inquiry, Makey Makey and Argumentation Grade 6 Science

This year, the library and Mr. Wick's grade 6 science classes are collaborating on inquiry in the science classroom to support the K-12 curriculum goal focusing on the Common Core argumentation literacy standard in all subject areas. For our first collaboration, we decided to use the Makey Makey, a popular MakerSpace item. The Makey Makey is an electronic invention kit that allows you to use  everyday items to play computer programs. It also inspires students to create their own Scratch games and use MakeyMakey to play them. It is a 'kit to unleash your creativity.'

So what did we do?  Since many of the students had 'played' with the Makey Makey before in the MakerSpace, we wondered how many of them knew how it actually worked - What is the science behind the toy? We decided to approach the class with only a few guidelines. We discussed the inquiry process and asked them to put their questioning and experimenting skills to work.  We created a simple handout/guide which explained how to set up the Makey Makey and then had three open ended tasks: How does it work? an observation chart to record how different materials worked and lastly asked the students to summarize their overall experience while explaining 'the science behind the Makey Makey.' A link to the handout with standards can be found here.