Inquiry: A Pedagogical Strategy

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Inquiry A Pedagogical Strategy
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Inquiry

• The act of searching, studying, or investigating.
  A close examination of some matter in a quest for
  information or answers.

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Essential Features of Classroom Inquiry

• Learners
• are engaged by scientific mathematical
  questions.
• give priority to evidence as they plan and
  conduct investigations.
• develop descriptions, explanations and
  predictions using evidence.
• connect evidence and explanations to developing
  scientific mathematical knowledge.
• engage in critical discourse with others about
  procedures, evidence and explanations.

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The Biggest Challenge

• Knowing when and how much scaffolding to provide
  in all aspects of inquiry
• Establishing questions
• Designing experiments protocols
• Making sense of the findings
• Fostering collaboration and discourse

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One way of thinking about inquiry

• The inquiry continuum
• Confirmation model
• Directed inquiry
• Guided inquiry
• Open inquiry

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Confirmation Model

• Teacher Role
• Give Problem Answer
• Provide text
• Provide oral description
• Provide specific directions
• Direct the display of data

• Students Role
• Perform activity
• Discover truth as stated in text by the
  teacher

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Directed Inquiry

• Teachers Role
• Define Problem
• Describe/ demonstrate procedures

• Students Role
• Follow outlined procedures
• Collect data
• Display data
• Interpret data
• Draw conclusions

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Guided Inquiry

• Teachers Role
• Provide a situation
• Solicit a problem
• Solicit inferences hypotheses
• Solicit experimental design

• Students Role
• Respond to teachers prompts (problem,
  hypotheses, design)
• Collect data
• Interpret data
• Draw conclusions

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Open Inquiry

• Teachers Role
• Approve problems experiments
• Suggest resources
• Mentor

• Students Role
• Identify problem
• Plan experiment
• Collect data
• Interpret data
• Draw conclusions
• Present Findings

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Inquiry Continuum
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Why do classifications matter?

• They matter only in the sense that by reflecting
  on what kinds of inquiry students engage, we as
  teachers are compelled to think about the extent
  to which students are
• Intellectually involved
• Practicing science mathematics
• Constructing their knowledge

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Discussion Questions

• Where would the marshmallow catapult activity fit
  on the inquiry continuum? Explain your answers.
• What are the advantages of using this kind of
  approach?
• What are the disadvantages of using this kind of
  approach?