Defining Inquiry Science

Contemporary science education supports educating all students, with a particular emphasis on closing the achievement gap and increasing participation of those students historically underrepresented in the sciences. By attending to the learning of all students, not only is our education system filling the pipelines to science and engineering colleges and our national workforce, but it supports the development of a literate citizenry with an ability to think critically and continually learn.

From the educational research on how people learn, it is known that passive reading or listening to lectures is not enough to form a lasting understanding of scientific principles or develop scientific skills. Rather, learning must be student–centered. This entails actively constructing new knowledge by connecting old ideas and beliefs to new information gained through personal investigations and discovery provided through classroom experiences. In the process, students are developing critical–thinking, problem–solving and collaboration skills, which are applicable in all types of learning environments. This way of teaching and learning has been described as inquiry–centered.

Defining Inquiry-Centered Science Education
By definition, inquiry is a search, an active process of understanding not simply the transfer of information or knowledge. Inquiry-centered science can be described in terms of:

1. What students do in the classroom,
2. What teachers do to support the inquiry process, and
3. How instructional materials support teaching and learning.

What Students Do
In the science classroom, students are not passive, rather, students engage with science content in a manner that parallels the process used by scientists. Students explore and discover science through a process of inquiry by:

• Focusing on the content at hand through observations and questions.
• Exploring these ideas with hands-on experiences.
• Reflecting on what they have observed or measured to make meaning from their experiences.
• Applying and extending their findings to new questions or problems.

What Teachers Do
Teachers support these student activities by facilitating students' scientific understanding through:

• Assessing student prior knowledge.
• Asking guiding questions, without providing answers.
• Arranging the classroom to promote collaboration and communication skills.
• Providing focused opportunities for open-ended investigations.
• Modeling analysis techniques.
• Fostering reflection and critical thinking skills.
• Providing real-world connections and integration to other subjects.

How Instructional Materials Support Teaching and Learning
Newly developed inquiry-centered science curriculum for K-12 classrooms supports the standards and best teaching practices for science learning. These instructional materials:

• Highlight how students build deep conceptual understanding of science concepts starting from their own curiosity, observations, and questions.
• Build both students' content knowledge and process skills, paralleling the experiences of working scientists.
• Promote students' development of problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills applicable to everyday life situations.

The above text was adapted from the Center for Inquiry Science´s Celebrating Science: A guide for expanding inquiry-based science education into the community.

• Learn more about the FERA learning cycle

• Case study comparison of a traditional classroom and an inquiry-centered classroom