What is Inquiry..Science by Doing

• Educators generally agree…. that children learn best by "doing."
• It is puzzling, therefore, that this awareness is only rarely translated into classroom instruction methods. Amazingly, rote learning techniques are still prevalent in schools.
Children are moved through the same pre-fabricated curricula. While the creative and highly effective talents of teachers are often ignored or stifled. This, at a time when critical thinking skills are increasingly in demand by employers, especially in for those in management, research, marketing or other areas requiring creative thinking skills.

Alan Coburn from the Department of Science Education at California State University in Long Beach, California Describes several different approaches to inquiry-based instruction:


Structured Inquiry:
• Students are given hands-on problems to investigate as well as the procedures, and materials, but are not informed of expected outcomes.
Guided Inquiry:
• The teacher provides only the materials and problem to investigate. Students devise their own procedure to solve the problem.
Open (student initiated) Inquiry:
• This is similar to guided inquiry, but students also formulate their own problem to investigate. Open inquiry is very similar to doing real science.

Science Inquiry _ What is it and How Do You Do It?
• Asking Questions...
• Observing…
• Experimenting...
• Measuring...
• Collaborating...
• Comparing...
• Recording...
• Journal writing...
• Analyzing...

• Elementary students learn quite effectively using hands-on, inquiry based materials when guided by an experienced teacher.

Teacher behaviors that promote inquiry-based learning:
• asking open-ended or divergent questions
• using wait-time when asking questions
• responding to students by repeating and paraphrasing what they have said without criticism

Teacher behaviors that promote inquiry-based learning:
• avoiding telling students what to do, praising, evaluating, rejecting, or discouraging student ideas or behaviors
• maintaining a disciplined classroom
• Make changes to your teaching slowly. Good science teaching involves a lot of patience, and time!
• research by: Alan Coburn

Science Process Skills
• Process Skills used by both students and scientists
• Observe: use your senses, computers, microscopes
• Experiment: change something, watch what happens, manipulate and control variables
• Collaborate: others in classroom other scientists
• Record: science journals and notebooks field notes, data sheets, computer
• measure : thermometers, lab equipment, etc scientific instruments
• sort/classify: color, size, shape, weight classification keys, field guides
• Compare: Which one is biggest? Went the farthest? Changes over time, changes in conditions
• Analysis: and sharing ~why did this happen?
• Tell others...data analysis

Make Slow changes
• Do not try and teach it all at once
• Break the process down in to little steps
• Become familiar with the process yourself.
• Give yourself permission to learn with your students, make mistakes, go back and do it again.