What is Scientific Inquiry and Why is it Important?
Unit Overview
Topics Covered:
- What is scientific inquiry?
- Why is it important?
Learning Outcomes:
- You will be able to define what scientific inquiry is.
- You will be able to explain why scientific inquiry should be implemented into elementary classrooms.
- You will discuss the importance of scientific inquiry.
- You will complete a K-W-L chart about their progress in understanding scientific inquiry.
What You Need to Succeed:
- A willingness to learn and engage in content
- A copy of the K-W-L chart (the link will open, make a copy and edit as necessary)
- When working with a K-W-L chart, you should fill out what you Know about the topic and what you Want to know about the topic before completing the unit. At the end of the unit, you will fill out what you have Learned about the topic.
- A familiarity with Google Docs and Google Forms (for the end-of-unit assessment)
Course Home Page
Scientific Inquiry
What is scientific inquiry?
Scientific inquiry is defined as “the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work,” (NSES, 1996, p. 23). Students are given an opportunity to actively engage in the content that they are learning. Students get to simulate the work of real scientists which encourages engagement and promotes a motivation to learn. Scientific inquiry involves hands-on learning, collaborative work, student-led driving questions, and the shift from the teacher into a facilitator role.
Hands-on Learning
Hands-on learning refers to students physically engaging in their science education. "Hands-on science can be defined as students getting their hands on materials, performing experiments, exploring phenomena, and trying out ideas," (Ivory, 2023, para. 2) Instead of simply reading or viewing experiments, students should be given the tools and materials to physical work with their learning. For example, students can read and view diagrams of the water cycle, or they can make a working model of the water cycle in hands-on learning. An example of one such experiment would be for students to create a water cycle in a sandwich bag and tape it to the window for observations. They get to work with materials and get to create their own water cycle, rather than simply reading about it.
Collaborative Environment
Students who are engaging in scientific inquiry should be actively collaborating with their peers, their teachers, and members of their community. One of the most crucial pieces of successful scientific inquiry is pushing students to work alongside their peers to share their ideas, create new ideas, and collectively improve everyone's knowledge. Collaboration can be in the form of whole-class discussions, small-group discussions, and interviews with peers and community members. In whole-class discussions, students should be given the opportunity to share their ideas and contribute to the ideas of their peers. Krajcik and Blumenfeld (2006) state, "the best learning results from a particular kind of social interaction: when teachers, students, and community members work together in a situated activity to construct shared understanding," (p. 319). Scientific inquiry also promotes this idea. Learners should be provided with multiple opportunities to engage with their peers, their teacher, and their community and whole-class discussion can create a way for that to happen. When students are in small groups, they are also given countless opportunities to collaborate with their peers. Small groups are beneficial because learners are placed in an academic setting that is less threatening to share their ideas. Instead of having to discuss their thinking in front of 20 of their peers, the number is reduced to 3-7. This can make students feel more comfortable and confident in sharing their ideas, as well as contradicting their peers. Krajcik and Blumenfeld (2006) also mention that, "student collaborate with others in their classroom and with their teacher to ask questions, write explanations, form conclusions, make sense of information, discuss data, and present findings," (p. 325). Collaboration in this way, is typically done within small-group settings. Learners have unique opportunities to work alongside a few of their peers to tackle a driving question and build each others knowledge which is a vital piece in elementary scientific inquiry. Finally, collaboration within the community can be in the form of other teachers, peers within the school, and even family members of the students. It does not need to be leaders in the community. Instead, students can gain valuable information about a topic from anyone that they interact with and then can bring that knowledge into the discussions had within the classroom.
Student-Driven Questions
Student-driven questions is the idea that students should work to create questions that they are curious about and those questions should lead their inquiry. One benefit to this is that the learning within the science classroom will be directly connect to students. Perkins and Blythe (1994) state that, "to engage students more thoughtfully in subject-matter learning-drawing connections between students' lives and the subject matter, between principles and practice, between past and present," (p. 1). There are countless benefits to incorporating student-driven questions such as increased student engagements, better motivation from students, and it can help students to feel more heard within the classroom community. When students are given the opportunity to learn about their own wonderings, it allows them to be more engaged. This is due to the fact that students have already shown an interest in the topic, therefore, utilizing student-driven questions can help students to be more engaged. In the same vein, student motivation in the science classroom can be increased from student-driven questions. Students come into the science classroom often wondering what their learning has to do with their lives. Some even pose the question, "Will I need this in real life?" Allowing students to lead the inquiry, they can see a direct connection and motivation to learn because they are exploring a concept that they are curious about and feel that they need an understanding of. Finally, students feel more heard in their classroom community. When a student is able to present a question for exploration and then it becomes the topic for inquiry, they can be led to understand how valuable their input can be in their classroom. This can help students to feel more comfortable and confident with the classroom. This confidence can help students to become more successful within their science learning.
Teacher as the Facilitator
Teachers need to shift their role in the classroom from the knowledge holders to the ones that facilitate students in their construction of knowledge. When students are engaging in discussions, the teacher should work to encourage students to come to an understanding of their own. Typically, students expect their teacher to tell them immediately if they are right or wrong, but within scientific inquiry teaching teachers need to shift from their role and place more responsibility on their students. Sawyer (2006) mentions that, "the most effective classroom discussion has the free-flowing collaborativeness of an improvisational theater performance," (p. 44). When there is a shift in the classroom in this way, students are given opportunities to do more of their learning on their own. There are many ways that this can be accomplished: following a student response/question the teacher can give a "Yes, and..." (Sawyer, 2006) response, asking students' peers to summarize and answer student responses/questions instead of the teacher, and allowing students the opportunity to discuss and recognize their own misconceptions. If the teacher becomes a facilitator within the classroom discussions, it will allow students to take more control over their own learning, rather than solely relying on their teacher for the correct answers.
Types of Scientific Inquiry
Within the idea of scientific inquiry, there is a range in which lessons can have. The inquiry can range from "traditional" limited inquiry, where students are given those "cookbook" labs and told exactly what is expected of them, to an open inquiry where students are given complete control over the driving question, the experiment procedure, and what they end up discovering. In between the two are structured inquiry which does not provide a specific answer for students, but the teacher provides students with the driving question as well as the experiment procedure, and guided inquiry which involves students creating their own experiment based on a teacher-selected question. Any level of inquiry past limited, is an improvement for students and will benefit their learning. However, the goal should be to work towards students being able to participate in open inquiry in their science learning.
Why is Scientific Inquiry Important?
As discussed, scientific inquiry instruction provides countless benefits for elementary students within their science learning. It is crucial for elementary students because elementary school is where students are getting their first experience with the wonders of structured science learning. Students come into the classroom eager to understand about the world around them, whether they realize it or not. When it is done right, it can leave a lasting impact on how they view science. Scientific inquiry is also crucial for ensuring that students are simulating the work of actual scientists. Science education has, unfortunately, functioned with the use of textbook readings and "cookbook" labs. However, this type of instruction fails to give students the proper opportunity to understand and work in the way that real scientists do. In almost any other subject, students are taught skills and methods that simulate the adult, professional work of that subject area, but science has fallen behind. It is also important for the engagement of the students within the classroom. As aforementioned, elementary school is when students are gaining their first understanding of science learning and forming perceptions regarding the subject as a whole. It can create a lasting impression on how they will view science education as they move forward in their education. Therefore, students need to be given opportunities to work in a hands-on, collaborative, student-driven, and teacher facilitated environment in science in order to expose young learners to the wonders of science.
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
Show Me What You Know:
Work to complete this multiple-choice test to evaluate your own understanding of scientific inquiry and how much you have been able to grasp throughout this unit. The quiz is out of 100 points, each question worth 10. When you have completed your quiz, you can move forward onto Unit 2.
References:
Army Educational Outreach Program. (n.d.). Investigative techniques - NSTA. National Science Teaching Association. https://static.nsta.org/ecybermission-files/helpdocs/Investigative%20Techniques.pdf
Edutopia. (2015, August 24). Inquiry-Based Learning: Developing student-driven questions. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdYev6MXTOA&t=9s
Ivory, A. (2023, October 29). Importance of hands-on science activities. Importance of Hands-On Science Activities | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. https://www.hmhco.com/blog/importance-of-hands-on-science-activities
Krajcik, J., & Blumenfeld, P. (2006). Project-based learning. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 317 - 334). New York: Cambridge University Press.
MasterClass. (2022, March 7). Scientific inquiry definition: How the scientific method works - 2023. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/scientific-inquiry
National Research Council (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Perkins, D., & Blythe, T. (1994). Putting understanding up front. Educational leadership, 51, 1-4.
Sawyer, R. K. (2006). Educating for innovation. Thinking skills and creativity, (pp. 41-48). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2005.08.001
Splawn, R. (2013, October 2). Science inquiry. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsl4kEQWcFI