Inquiry as a process and instructional method

We Constantly Make Decisions.

We often say:
Let me think about that?
What should I think about that idea?
How do I solve that problem?

Sometimes we say:
I will inquire about that.
I can investigate, explore, research, and see what that means.

This is the process of inquiry.

Overview

This article explores inquiry. The dimensions of what happens when we inquire. Different kinds of inquiry and their procedures with references to detailed information for educators to facilitate inquiry instructional methods and assisting learners to become better inquirers, critical thinkers, decision makers, problem solvers, investigators, experimenters, creative thinkers, andmost importantly to independent learners.

Introduction

As educators we want to know...

What do people need to know and do to inquire? And how do we get better at it?

First - What is inquiry?

There isn't a simple answer since there are different ways people use the term.

However, let's start by thinking about inquiry from a global perspective and look at a general procedure (heuristic) for inquiring. Then we'll look at the different dimensions of inquiry and reference the major uses of inquiry: critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, investigating, experimenting, and creative thinking. Lastly we will explore how inquiry is used as an instructional method and some planning suggestions.

When inquiry happens there are several things that come together to make it happen. Those things can be considered the dimensions of inquiry. Like the dimensions of space, this infers a relationship of interdependency and uniqueness among the dimensions. Dimensions to consider when we inquire and when we try to facilitate better inquiry.

What is inquiry teaching?

Inquiry learning or instructional methodology, refers to an instructional model which involves a series of questions asked of learners in a manner that facilitates the development of understanding, skill, and dispositions to become literate in an area of study. This includes all content areas.

Ways to Facilitate Inquiry

Instruction to support inquiry and learning inquiry skills will:

• Focus on conceptual learning.
• Start with the learner's existing knowledge, build on it, challenge it, apply it, and extend it.
• Encourage learner's curiosity and let their questions direct how to facilitate their learning.
• Keep learners actively engaged.
• Encourage learners to self-assess, ask critical questions, reflect, and understand with the use of verifiable evidence.
• Create and take advantage of collaboration to reach and verify conclusions.
• Establish a community of learners willing to communication in all dimensions of all subject and other kinds of literacy. Including tentative thinking, and goal setting, as well as significant learnings.
• Assess all dimensions of the content areas you study with the least emphasis on factual knowledge and procedural knowledge and major emphasis on inquiry and process for conceptual understanding based on observational knowledge and reasoning to facilitate learning.

The challenge is to make common experiences meaningful to learners through the use of inquiry skills so they can create meaningful knowledge.

It is also useful to think about these skills on three different levels: generic, the discipline, and the specific task. Working on the skill such as classification is an example on a generic level. Using certain characteristics, such as hardness, to classify rocks but not using that characteristic to classify leaves is an example of discipline. In a specific task, we need to decide whether a skill such as classification will help us solve the problem we are working with.

Can you describe how other process skills such as, observations, inferences, and explanation fit these categories and how thinking about them in this way deepens both the meaning of science and understanding of science?

How does planning science inquiry skills at the primary age and intermediate-grade levels differ?

In the primary grades children use their five senses to develop their inquiry skills. Teachers of young children should engage children in playful activities that involve pushing, pulling, sliding, and rolling. When young children play, the early inquiry skills they develop are diverse. The emphasis in the primary grades is playful activities and use of the five senses. The emphasis is kindergarten and early elementary grades is using early inquiry skills t explore their local environment.

During the early elementary grades, science lessons, which focus on basic science process skills such as observation, classification, communication, cause, effect, measurement, and explanation build a foundation to build better inquiry skills.

In the intermediate grade teachers identify questions that can be investigated; plan and conduct scientific explorations; use tools and technology to gather analyze and interpret the data; use a range of inquiry skills to develop generalizations and models using data; and communicate scientific procedures for investigations, explanations, and models. The emphasis in the intermediate grades is experiences that give them concrete foundations to create and connect to abstract ideas.

At the middle school level, science lessons focus on the development of higher-level inquiry skills. This emphasis should be evident in 40 percent or more of the science lessons at these grade levels.

How do attitudes and dispositions promote meaningful science learning?

Attitudes and dispositions are affective responses that reflect our feelings and personal likes and dislikes. Attitudes that can be planned for, modeled, and encouraged in a science lesson include curiosity, respect for evidence, flexibility, responsibility to others and the environment, and appreciation of nature. These attitudes are important not only learning science, but also for being a scientifically literate citizen. How to foster each is the following: A teacher encourages curiosity by asking students to explain a discrepant event related a key idea. A teacher encourages flexibility by student willingness to reconsider ideas, recognize that ideas are tentative, and have willingness to consider other methods. A teacher encourages responsibility to others and the environment by exploring and investigating their environment to develop sensitivity. A sense of responsibility occurs when student have an opportunity to know each other and have prior knowledge leading to the experiment. A teacher encourages the value of nature by helping students make value decisions, about their environment and by helping students recognize the beauty of nature in the assignment of value to it.

What are the conditions necessary for effective teaching of science inquiry skills?

Effective teaching involves posing problems, dilemmas, and discrepancies, and raising question involving students in a variety of inquiry activities related to the science content. To have a proactive approach to teaching thinking is questioning, structuring, and modeling.

How do the processes of teaching inquiry skills fit in a classroom lesson?

Inquiry skill learning requires relating the new skill to prerequisite skills, modeling the new skill, becoming aware of its component and practicing and transferring it sufficiently so that it is performed automatically. The learning cycle accomplishes these necessary steps while building students' interest and proficiency. This would include starting with prior knowledge; get students to ask questions; get higher levels of thought; arrange the environment and pose problems. Students should be involved in activities that have data gathering, data organizing, data processing, and communicating.

How can science inquiry skills planned as outcomes during a lesson or unit be assessed?

Record keeping is a must. Appropriate record keeping makes the assessment of skills doable. Providing feedback is essential for methods help assess skill development and task performances. Methods range from being as simple as a check mark to check progress, rubrics use criteria to assess and evaluate learning performance and narrative comments to monitor specific student learning.

Summary

The importance of learning inquiry skills and science inquiry skills is a must. They are not only the foundation of science learning and without them science learning would not be meaningful, but they are basically the only way we can understand meaning in our world. everything we know is based on observation and science is observation.

What is inquiry science lesson?

Inquiry science lessons refer to activities where learners use scientific inquiry to learn science ideas during a lesson. The lesson usually follows a process where learners are either given questions or create their own questions, collect observational information to use to create reasonable explains of the outcomes, or answers to the questions. While the complexity of this procedure can vary according to the complexity of ideas to investigate or the ability of the investigator, all scientific investigations have observational evidence as the basis of any explanation.

The teacher and/or learner can decide the step or steps of the investigation. Looking at who makes the decisions at each step of an investigation, is one way of measuring learner empowerment. If the teacher makes all the decisions, it is low learner empowerment and if the learner makes all the decisions, it would be high student empowerment. A mixture of both is required for ultimate gain.

The table shows different combinations of inquiry lessons from low to high student empowerment and their matches to methods of instruction.

Using the same framework the bottom of the table identifies instructional methods that matches the seven combinations, and includes a specific example for each. Again can notice how the lessons differ from low to high student empowerment.

Examples of Inquiry Lessons for Low to High Student Empowerment

 

Investigation Steps in a lesson	Person Empowered
Topic is chosen by	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Student
Focus questions are asked by	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Student	Student
Materials are selected by	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Student	Student	Student
Investigation procedures are decided by	Teacher	Teacher	Teacher	Student	Student	Student	Student
Results are analyzed by	Teacher	Teacher	Student	Student	Student	Student	Student
Conclusions are made by	Teacher	Student	Student	Student	Student	Student	Student
Kinds of instruction Learning Cycle could fit in all categories See instructional syntax	Lecture Demonstration Reading text Directed instruction	Guided Discovery Discussion	Guided Discovery Discussion	Guided Discovery Discussion	Inquiry teacher selected topic, question... learner selected materials... Discussion	Inquiry teacher selected topic learner selected question... Discussion	Self-inquiry learner selects topic... Discussion
Instructional procedure	Teacher announces topic as chemistry. Asks students, What elements make water? Teacher fills hydrolysis apparatus with water and connects to electricity source. Has students observe while the two vials collect gases. Asks the students how the volumes of gases compare. Tells that if a gas burns brightly it is O and if it woofs it is H. Conducts a test on each vial. Concludes one is H and the other is O. Asks students how the volume ratio compares to the formula H2O. Twice as much H than O. Draws a model on the board and asks how what they learned might be applied to other molecules. (hydrogen peroxide H2O2…	Teacher announces topic: chemistry. Asks students, How would you organize rocks? Teacher passes out various rocks, magnifying glasses, and data sheets. Tells students to observe the properties of the rocks, record them on the data sheets, and classify them. Teacher records properties of each group on a class data sheet, labels the group of rocks as sedimentary, metamorphic, igneous, or conglomerate, and asks students if they are satisfied with the arrangement. Asks students to discuss iff the classification system would work for all rocks in the world and what might cause differences.	Teacher announces topic: chemistry. Asks students, What do you predict will happen if water and oil are combined? Teacher supplies water, oil, cup, dropper, and large manila envelope. Teacher gives instruction on the experiment (omitted here). Tells students they are to write their findings and put them into the envelope. Teacher calls on each group to share the contents of their envelope. After all have shared, ask how the results could be organized and then summarized. Asks pairs to describe what would happen if they mixed alcohol, water, and oil. Share conclusions with the class and discuss possible conclusions.	Teacher announces topic: erosion. Teacher asks students, "What causes erosion?" Supplies trays, sand, water, straws, ice cubes, goggles. Students decide on a procedure to collect data on erosion. Spread sand in the same pattern on three trays, Set ice on one, blow air on another, and pour water on the third. Draw before, during, and after diagrams to show the effects. Students share diagrams and discuss change models. Students conclude what would happen if the erosion variable was stronger, the time was longer, and other variable changes. Then describe real works events to match their discoveries.	Teacher announces topic observation, and inference. Teacher bolds up a sealed sack with an object in it and her name written on it and asks, "How can we guess what is in the sack?" Students shake it, listen to it, smell it… Teacher writes their observations, on the board with their inferences and reasons for each (inference spoon- observation - sounds like metal, shakes as something solid) Students secretly create their bags. Students exchange bags and write their guesses, inferences and observations. Students share their guesses, observations, inferences, and reasoning. Students suggest how observations, inferences, and reasoning to learn about the world.	Today we are going to classify the liquids you brought by their pH to try and answer the questions you asked yesterday. "What do pH levels mean?" Students take the liquids (shampoos, conditioners, juices, vinegar, and ammonia…) teachers supplies pH strips and pH # color charts. Students decide to test all their liquids and record the liquid and its pH. Students look at the results and arrange them in categories by pH. Conclude a relationship of pH levels to the type of liquids and the function of that liquid.	A student presents a riddle to the class. How can a person walk across a lake and not get wet? (it's frozen) Students ask: What makes solids and liquids? Students suggest a KWHL chart and an investigation. Teacher suggests that they add gases. Students decide to bring liquids, solids, and gases. Students observe their objects, lit properties, and draw pictures. Students display the data sheets on a wall and categorize them. They make a summary list of properties for each category. The teacher guides them to how shape changes or doesn't change (operational definition) of solids, liquids, and gases. Students suggest other objects, classify them and tell how their findings are like a law.

 

Lab Forms

Different procedures for scientific investigations are sometimes represented in different lab forms that are often provided by teachers for investigations.

The use of forms is helpful to facilitate students' understanding of steps and ways of thinking when doing scientific inquiry. However, care should be taken to convince students that: 1. there are many ways to conduct scientific inquiry, 2. scientific inquiry is most often conducted as a non linear process, and 3. playing around with materials or ideas is a very good way to conduct scientific inquiry.

A rationalization for the use of procedures or forms would be as a device to assist investigation. To spark ideas for inquiry or to review ideas generated for their comprehensiveness. And most importantly as a communication device. Again, used to review comprehensiveness only now at the conclusion of the investigation as a report creation device. Forms also provide a way to organize information to better report findings as well as assist readers in interpreting the information. Most importantly the forms can be a communication device to provide experimental information for others to replicate and assist in understanding our natural world.

A collection of investigation forms or procedures for different age levels to inquire by exploring, investigating, experimenting ... and recording observational evidence to create explanations.

Sample Science Inquiry Plans

• Cartesian Diver Inquiry Investigation Plan for Grades 5 and up
• Cartesian Diver Inquiry Investigation Plan for Grades 3 - 4
• Erosion - wind, water, and ice Inquiry Investigation Plan for Grade 3 - 4
  
• Colored water activity
• Air Activity

 

Two ways to Create a Scoring Guide/Rubric for Science Inquiry - Fourth Grade

First, unpack the standard.

Second, research students' ability to understand inquiry at the desired age of the students ( misconceptions - concepts for elementry and middle school students).

Third, select the appropriate big ideas from the information collected.

For fourth grade inquiry:

• Ask a question,
• Plan procedure,
• Carry out an investigative procedure or experiment,
• Collect the results, and
• Summarize the results.

Story time: I was working with a group of teacher educators on this very task and there was some discussion on how the information should be organized. One group claimed the way it should be done was to select the categories (beginning, progressing, proficient, and advanced) then write statements under each category to describe what each looked like.

Another group was just as emphatic that if there were five conditions to be judged, then there should be five rows - one for each: ask a question, plan procedure, carry out the investigation, collect the results, and summarize the results.

When they reached an impass they turned to me and asked - which way is the right way?

Alas, I said, let's try both ways and see which you like.

Their thinking was why do something twice when you only need to do it once.

However, you can see the results for both below.

Indicator	Beginning	Progressing	Proficient	Advanced
Question	Formulate a question only with a teacher cue.	Understands a question when given several clues by a team mate or teacher	Can formulate or select an appropriate question from a group of questions	Formulate a questions that is appropriate for a scientific investigation
Plan procedure	No set plan.	Write an investigative procedure with the intent of answering a question but the steps of the procedure are not logical or appropriate.	Write an investigative procedure with the intent of answering the questions and the steps of the procedure are logical but not necessarily appropriate.	Plan investigative procedures for the purpose of answering the question and makes appropriate changes as needed
Conduct experiment	Skips making a procedure and goes directly to playing with materials with no systematic plan.	Follows a procedure inaccurately.	Follows a procedure accurately	Follows a procedure accurately making appropriate changes if needed
Collect results	Collection of data is with incomplete observation	Observes the obvious and records bits and pieces	Accurate observations and records the obvious information accurately	Observes more than the obvious
Summarize results	May be able to summarize a few highlights when asked.	Communicates results orally and in writing	Communicates results orally and in writing connecting observational evidence with investigation question	Communicates results orally and in writing connecting observational evidence with investigation question and proposes answers and/or explanations

	Indicators
Beginning	Unable to proceed without significant teacher supervision. Teacher must assist with the formulation of an investigative question. Does not develop a planbeyond trial and error without assistance. Manipulates materials with no systematic procedure, incomplete observation, incomplete data collectionand if asked will summarizewith highlights and incomplete ideas.
Progressing	Understands a questionafter several cues by a teammate or teacher. Writes an experimental procedurewith the intent of answering a question but the steps of the procedure are missing information, illogical, or include extraneous information. Can generally follow a procedurewith an occasional inaccuracy that requires assistance, Observes the obvious, recordsand communicateswith bits and pieces that are somewhat accurate.
Proficient	Can formulate or select an appropriate questionfrom a group of questions Writes an experimental procedurewith the intent of answering the questions with the logical steps that are not necessarily appropriate. Accurately follows a procedure, makes accurate observations, and records the obvious informationaccurately. Can communicate resultsorally and in writing that connect the experimental evidence to the investigation question.
Advanced	Can formulate a questionsthat is appropriate for a scientific experimental investigation and plan an experimental proceduresfor the purpose of answering the question. Can follows a procedureaccurately making appropriate changes if needed Observes more than the obvious and communicates resultsorally and in writing that connect the experimental evidence with the investigation question and proposes answers, explanations, or further investigations.

 

Inquiry & science processes checksheets

• Inquiry sample 1 -
• Inquiry sample 2
• Processes and process skills necessary for science inquiry
  

Assessment Rubrics for Inquiry Classroom Communities

• Inquiry rubric - Observation of student interactions
• Inquiry rubric - Observations of the environment
• Inquiry rubric - Observation of teacher's interactions