What is Inquiry?

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What is Inquiry?
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Brainstorm What does classroom Inquiry mean?

• Place the main idea at the center of the map
• Organize the words or terms from most general to
  most specific

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• Inquiry is an approach to teaching that involves
  a process of exploring the natural or material
  world, that leads to asking questions and making
  discoveries in the search of new understandings.
• The Exploratorium, 1998

• Inquiry focuses on the engagement of students to
  generate and pursue the answers to questions
  through careful observation and reflection.
• Llewellyn, Douglas, in Teaching High School
  Science Through Inquiry, 2005

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• Inquiry learning allows a student to construct
  their own understanding by connecting new
  information to what they already know
• This is known as CONSTRUCTIVISM

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• Inquiry provides a way for learners to gain more
  knowledge by observing, raising questions, making
  predictions, testing hypotheses, creating
  theories
• This is not a linear process but a back and forth
  or cyclical series of events.

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Common Components of Inquiryfrom Inquiry and the
National Science Education Standards, pg 35

• Phase 1 Students engage with a scientific
  question, event or phenomenon which connects with
  what they already know.
• Phase 2 Students explore ideas through hands-on
  experiences, formulate and test hypotheses, solve
  problems, and create explanations for what they
  observe.
• Phase 3 Students analyse and interpret data,
  synthesize their ideas, build models, and clarify
  concepts and explanations with teachers and other
  sources of scientific knowledge. They explain
  what they have learned
• Phase 4 Students extend their new understanding
  and abilities and apply what they have learned to
  new situations.
• Phase 5 Students, with their teachers, review
  and assess what they have learned and how they
  have learned it. Involves some type of
  evaluation.

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5E Learning Cycle

• This is a model which supports constructivist
  learning

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Two questions are usually asked of inquiry
learning

• What is appropriate content for science
  instruction?
• How structured or guided should instruction be?

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Levels of Inquiry
Inquiry Level Description and examples
1 Confirmation Students confirm a principle through an activity in which the results are known in advance.
2 Structured Inquiry Students investigate a teacher-presented question through a prescribed procedure
3 Guided Inquiry Students investigate a teacher-presented question using student designed/selected procedures
4 Open Inquiry Students investigate topic-related questions that are student formulated through student designed/selected procedures
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• Many science teachers already do level 1 and
  level 2 inquiry
• We need to move to level 3 and then eventually
  level 4
• Students need guidance and scaffolding to reach
  level 4 and assistance to connect to meaningful
  content

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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 Science and
Technology, 2008 (pg 12)

• In scientific inquiry, students engage in
  activities that allow them to develop knowledge
  and understanding of scientific ideas in much the
  same way as scientists would. Like scientists,
  students must also develop skills in the two
  major components of scientific investigation
  experimentation and research.

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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 Science and
Technology, 2008 (pg 13)

• Experimentation involves conducting fair tests
  to determine whether changing one factor in the
  experimental set-up affects the results, and, if
  so, in what ways. In a fair test, the
  scientist/student identifies variables that may
  affect the results of the experiment selects one
  variable to be altered (tested), and keeps other
  variables constant measures all trials in the
  same way and repeats tests to determine the
  validity of the results.

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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 Science and
Technology, 2008

• Inquiry is broken into four areas
• Initiating and Planning
• Performing and Recording
• Analysing and Interpreting
• Communication

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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 Science and
Technology, 2008

• Initiating and Planning
• Formulating questions
• Identifying the problem
• Developing hypotheses
• Developing plans

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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 Science and
Technology, 2008

• Performing and Recording
• Gathering evidence and data
• Observing
• Recording and organizing data in tables, graphs
  or charts
• Manipulating materials/using equipment safely

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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 Science and
Technology, 2008

• Analysing and Interpreting
• Identifies patterns in data
• Summarizes data
• Draws conclusions based on data
• Evaluates experimental procedure and suggests
  changes to improve

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The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8 Science and
Technology, 2008

• Communication
• Presents steps and results of an experimental
  procedure using numeric, symbolic, graphical
  and/or linguistic methods

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Questioning in an Inquiry Classroomfrom Biology
Inquiries by Martin Shields

• Good question. What do you think?
• Interesting. Why do you think that?
• Interesting idea. How could you test that?
• Interesting idea. What evidence do you have for
  that?
• Is there another possible explanation for that?
• What kinds of data could help answer that
  question?
• What can you conclude from that?
• How do you explain these observations/data/results
  ?
• What are some hypotheses for that?