Sample Answers for Kogs

This page provides sample answers to questions raised in the Kogs-4-Kids workbooks. I refer to “sample answers,” because I want to encourage exploration of the concept of “open inquiry.” Here’s why:

When students are presented with a question – such as “How do geckos walk on walls?” – they can have a number of immediate internal responses:
• They may feel unprepared for the question. Maybe they do not know how geckos walk on walls and feel intimidated by the question.
•Another response may be fear of getting the answer “wrong.” Maybe they have heard something about how a gecko walks on walls but don’t remember the information.
•Maybe they know it’s not suction cups but aren’t sure what it might be, so they may not want to answer because they think they should know the right answer. They wait for the right answer to be told to them by someone who knows.
•Or maybe they think they are the only ones who don’t know the answer and they feel stupid for not knowing.

Notice that all of these responses are focused on finding the “right” answer. Yes, there is a way that geckos walk on walls so, yes, there is a “right” answer. But by focusing on the “right” answer, students lose the most valuable aspect of science investigation: open inquiry.

Open Inquiry and the Scientific Process

Science investigation is as much a process of coming to the right answer as it is getting the right answer written down next to the question. If we don’t allow students to explore with their imaginations all the possibilities for how a gecko might walk on a wall from a place – in other words, use “open inquiry” – then we short circuit a vital process of scientific investigation. We circumvent the imagination and fall into passive learning and teaching.

Send Us Your Questions

The Kogs workbooks are designed to help students explore “open inquiry.” There is no “answer key” for the workbooks, but please email us to request a sample answer to a specific question, and we will post it here on our Web site.

Sample Answers

Chemistry Level I History Kog

Chapter 1 Question 4

Chemistry Level I Critical Thinking Kog

Chapter Introduction

KOG_CT_Chem_1A_0-1_sample_answers_13-15.pdf

Chapter 1

Chapter 2