The principles are the same -- the need to excite and engage students' attention so they want to investigate the topic is critically important at any age. However, the way teachers actually teach it has to be more hands-on, directive or guided, and concrete for younger children.
What are some common misconceptions that teachers have regarding inquiry-based science? Teacher[s] often think they are 'doing inquiry' because they are out at the front of the classroom directing the inquiry or investigation or demonstrating how to do it. This is not inquiry science.
Inquiry science requires teachers to be able to excite the students' interest in a topic and then provide them with opportunities to undertake the investigation either by themselves or preferably in collaboration with others.
The teacher, though, needs to remain active in the lesson, guiding the students and asking questions to help them consolidate their understandings.
Providing feedback is critically important to helping students understand how they are progressing. You have observed many teachers over the years. Good teachers engage students' interest through novelty, something unusual that spurs their curiosity and then they use language that is very dialogic or language that lets the student know that they are interested in what they think or want to say about the topic.
Good teachers then carefully guide students as they begin to explore or investigate the topic, being careful not to dominate the conversation but allow student time to develop responses or think about the issue more carefully. In this sense they give students the time to reflect and think more carefully about the issue. However, good teachers are always careful to ensure that the inquiry-based science lesson moves forward and they do this be asking questions that probe and challenge students' thinking as well as giving them feedback that is meaningful and timely.
Teachers who do inquiry well tend have a very good understanding of both the content they are teaching and the processes involved. They tend to use language that is very collaborative and friendly and take a genuine interest in what students are doing. They ask questions that challenge students' thinking and they acknowledge students' efforts.
What advice do you have for teachers who do not have a lot of time to teach science? Recognize your limitations but try to optimize on what time you have. Be well prepared and try to ensure that science activities are interesting -- stimulate students' interest in science. If they are interested, they will continue to be interested even if they have not covered the full curriculum.
Can you provide an example of higher-level thinking and problem-solving questions that you may see with 7 and 8 year-old students? After some discussion they decided that they would have to wait until next year and see if all the trees got healthy again. The following year, during the same month that they had observed the discrepancy, all three trees were fully clothed with green leaves.
One is struck by the parallels between Mrs. The geologist began his investigation with a question about an unusual and intriguing observation of nature. So did Mrs. The scientist then undertook a closer examination of the environment — asked new and more focused questions — and proposed an explanation for what he observed, applying his knowledge of plate tectonics. The children applied their knowledge to formulate several explanations and new questions before undertaking further investigations.
The scientist, knowing of investigations by other scientists, used their findings to confirm the validity of his original explanation. In Mrs. The geologist published his findings. Inquiry in the classroom can take many forms.
Investigations can be highly structured by the teacher so that students proceed toward known outcomes, such as discovering regularities in the movement of pendulums as noted in the Foreword and in the classroom vignette on pages of the National Science Education Standards.
Or investigations can be free-ranging explorations of unexplained phenomena, like the tree leaf discrepancies in Mrs. The form that inquiry. The chapters that follow explore the dimensions of teaching and learning science as inquiry across a broad range of ages and scientific topics. The intention is to improve the quality of student learning by enabling them to acquire the abilities of inquiry, develop knowledge of scientific ideas, and understand the work of scientists.
Humans, especially children, are naturally curious. Yet, people often balk at the thought of learning science—the "eyes glazed over" syndrome. Teachers may find teaching science a major challenge in an era when science ranges from the hardly imaginable quark to the distant, blazing quasar. Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards is the book that educators have been waiting for—a practical guide to teaching inquiry and teaching through inquiry, as recommended by the National Science Education Standards.
This will be an important resource for educators who must help school boards, parents, and teachers understand "why we can't teach the way we used to. This book explains and illustrates how inquiry helps students learn science content, master how to do science, and understand the nature of science. This book explores the dimensions of teaching and learning science as inquiry for K students across a range of science topics.
Detailed examples help clarify when teachers should use the inquiry-based approach and how much structure, guidance, and coaching they should provide. The book dispels myths that may have discouraged educators from the inquiry-based approach and illuminates the subtle interplay between concepts, processes, and science as it is experienced in the classroom. Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards shows how to bring the standards to life, with features such as classroom vignettes exploring different kinds of inquiries for elementary, middle, and high school and Frequently Asked Questions for teachers, responding to common concerns such as obtaining teaching supplies.
Turning to assessment, the committee discusses why assessment is important, looks at existing schemes and formats, and addresses how to involve students in assessing their own learning achievements. In addition, this book discusses administrative assistance, communication with parents, appropriate teacher evaluation, and other avenues to promoting and supporting this new teaching paradigm.
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Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free? Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released. Get This Book. Visit NAP. Looking for other ways to read this? No thanks. Suggested Citation: "1 Inquiry in Science and in Classrooms. Page 2 Share Cite. Uses previous research.
Propose a possible explanation. Page 3 Share Cite. Publishes explanation based on evidence. Considers new evidence. Explanation informs public policy.
Page 4 Share Cite. Page 5 Share Cite. Page 6 Share Cite. Page 7 Share Cite. Plan and conduct simple investigation. Gather evidence from observation. Page 8 Share Cite. Explain based on evidence. Consider other explanations. Communicate explanation. The next step is to take action—through continued observing, raising questions, making predictions, testing hypotheses, and creating conceptual models.
The learner must find her or his own pathway through this process. It is rarely a linear progression, but rather more of a back-and-forth, or cyclical, series of events.
As the process unfolds , more observations and questions emerge, providing for deeper interaction with the phenomena—and greater potential for further development of understanding. Along the way , the inquirer collects and records data, makes representations of results and explanations, and draws upon other resources such as books, videos, and the expertise or insights of others.
Making meaning from the experience requires reflection, conversation, comparison of findings with others, interpretation of data and observations, and the application of new conceptions to other contexts. All of these serve to help the learner construct an improved mental framework of the world.
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