Inquiry in
Science
"In the science classroom,
wondering should be as
highly valued as knowing,"
F. James Rutherford and Andrew Ahlgren in
“Science for All Americans”
Scientific Inquiry
• Addresses the California State
Standard for:
Developing Explanations
Based on Evidence
The Big Picture
• Inquiry is the common thread
in a student-centered
classroom: Used in
– Cornell notes
– Tutorials
– Socratic Seminars
– Philosophical Chairs
– Learning Logs
– Critical thinking & decision-making
The Big Picture
• Often begins with a question
• Encourages students to think
critically
• Creates the opportunity
for students to problem-solve
& share analyses
• Inquiry promotes
COLLABORATION
Why Use Inquiry as a
Teaching Methodology?
• Inquiry immediately
engages students with
their own thinking
processes.
Why Use Inquiry as a
Teaching Methodology?
• What results is
student ownership
for enlarged
understanding of
concepts and values.
Scientific Inquiry
• Encourages students to think
critically about inferences and
logical relationships between cause
& effect
• Often begins with a
question about a
natural phenomenon.
Scientific Inquiry
• Once asked, a process of scientific
inquiry begins
– Eventually a proposed
explanation
• Experimental design is
also part of the inquiry
process.
From “Teaching About Evolution & the Nature of Science,” N.A.S.
“You can’t get students
to think critically without
asking critical questions”
Carmen Serret-Lopez
Bloom’s Levels
1. REMEMBER: recalling information
2. UNDERSTAND: comprehend meaning
3. APPLY: using learning in new situations
4. ANALYZE: ability to see parts &
relationships
5. EVALUATION: judgment based on
criteria
6. CREATE: Use parts to create a new
whole
Level 1 - REMEMBER
Recalling Information
• What information is given?
• What are you being asked to find?
• What formula would you use?
• What does _____mean?
• What is the formula for...?
• List the...
• Name the...
• Where did...?
• What is...?
• Who was/were...?
• When did...
Level 2 - UNDERSTAND
Comprehending Meaning
• What are you being asked to find?
• Explain the concept of...
• Give me an example of...
• Describe in your words what ___ means.
• What concepts does this connect to?
• Draw a diagram of...
• Illustrate how _____ works.
• Explain how you calculate...
Level 3 - APPLY
Using Learning in New Situations
• What additional information is needed to solve
this problem?
• Can you see other relationships that will help you
find this information?
• How can you put your data in graphic form?
• What occurs when..?
• How would you change your procedures to get
better results?
• What method would you use to...
• Does it make sense to...?
Level 4 - ANALYZE
Ability to See Parts & Relationships
• Compare and contrast _____ to _____.
• What was important about...
• Which errors most affected your results?
• What were some sources of variability?
• How do your conclusions support your
hypothesis?
• What prior research/formulas support
your conclusions?
• How else could you account for...?
Level 5 - EVALUATE
Judgment Based on Criteria
• How can you tell if your answer is reasonable?
• What would happen to ____ if ____ variable
were increased/decreased?
• How would repeat trials affect your data?
• What significance is this experiment to the
subject you're learning?
• What type of evidence is most compelling to
you?
• Do you feel ____ experiment is ethical?
• Are your results biased?
Level 6 - CREATE
Use Parts to Create a New Whole
• Design a lab to show...
• Predict what will happen to ____ as ____ is
changed?
• Using a principle of science, how can we find ...?
• Describe the events that might occur if...
• Design a scenario for...
• Pretend you are...
• What would the world be like if...
Why Is This Important?
• State and National surveys indicate
that approximately 90% of the
questions K-12th grade students are
exposed to are lower-level
questions.
• In college this trend reverses, and
students deal primarily
with high-level critical
questions.
TIMSS Recommendations
• To increase rigor and give
students a chance to study each
topic more deeply:
– encourage the use of higherlevel inquiry questioning that
requires students to use
their creativity and
imagination.
Inquiry In Science
Learner
performs lab
activity
Teacher asks
students probing
questions
Science as inquiry is
when…
Learner reads
about prior
scientific
investigations
Learner justifies
proposed
explanation
Text-Driven Inquiry
• Beluga Whale Article
– Read each passage and answer
the questions on Cornell notes
Where Do Belugas Survive?
Passage One
• Why do you think the number of
whales has not increased?
• What is the question that would
best guide a scientific investigation
about why the population of whales
does not increase?
Passage Two
• Based on your understanding, were
the original investigations adequate?
• Did scientists use appropriate tools &
techniques to gather, analyze &
interpret data?
• Did scientists use evidence to explain
that whales died because of
pollutants?
• What would be the best approach to
design & conduct a scientific
investigation that would demonstrate a
cause-and-effect relationship?
Passage Three
Briefly identify portions that illustrate one
of the aspects of scientific inquiry.
I. Different kinds of questions suggest
different kinds of scientific investigations.
2. Current scientific knowledge &
understanding guide scientific
investigations.
3. Math is important in all aspects of scientific
inquiry.
4. Technology used to gather data enhances
accuracy and allows scientists to analyze
and quantify results of investigations.
Passage Three
Briefly identify portions that illustrate one
of the aspects of scientific inquiry.
5. Scientific explanations emphasize evidence,
have logically consistent arguments, and use
scientific principles, models, and theories.
6. Science advances through legitimate
skepticism.
7. Scientific investigations sometimes result in
new ideas and phenomena for study.
What do the
Footprints Say???
Mission
• Reconstruct happenings from the
geological past by analyzing
a set of fossilized tracks
• Form defensible explanations
of past events from limited
evidence.
• As more evidence is available,
modify or abandon your
hypotheses.
Position #1
• Can you tell anything about size
or nature of organisms?
• Were the tracks made at the
same time?
• How many animals involved?
• Can you reconstruct a series of
events represented by this set
of fossil tracks?
• Suggest evidence to support
your explanations!
Position #2
• With new
info, revisit
first
explanation
• MODIFY
your
explanation
and/or add
new ones
Interpret What Happened
Questions to Consider...
• In what directions did animals move?
• Did they change speed or direction?
• What might have changed the footprint
pattern?
• Was the land level or irregular?
• Was the soil moist or dry?
• In what kind of rocks were the
prints made?
• Were sediments coarse or fine?
• Characteristics of track environment?
Remember!
• Any reasonable explanation must
be based only on those proposed
explanations that still apply when all
of the puzzle is projected
For Each Explanation...
• Be sure to indicate the evidence!
If you could VISIT the site, what
evidence would you look for to
support your hypothesis?
Adapted from a BSCS lab
Constructivist Process
• Journey in which the voyagers arrive
without a map in hand
• Guided by the questions,
"Where are we now?"
and "Where should
we go next?”
• Teacher initiates & facilitates learning
activities that help students create
their own maps to the territory
Scientific Modeling
The “Black Tube” Model
 Investigate the tube
with all your senses
 Make a drawing of what the
INSIDE of the tube looks like
 Post your drawings and take a
“museum walk” to look at
everyone’s model
Open-ended Inquiry
• Creates the opportunity for students
to design their own experimental
and compare their analyses with
groups.
–Teaches students to
comprehend science
as a process
–Promotes
COLLABORATION
Levels of Openness
Table 1. Schwab/Herron Levels of Laboratory Openness
LEVEL
PROBLEM
WAYS & MEANS
O
Given
Given
1
Given
Given
2
Given
Open
3
Open
Open
ANSWERS
Given
Open
Open
Open
• Level 0 = Students make few decisions-other than
deciding whether they got the "right answers."
• Level 3 = Students decide what to investigate, how to
investigate it, and how to interpret the results they
generate.
• Level 3 activities are what most scientists do
Experimental Design
• Whole faculty agrees on what
the students in ALL sciences
need to do:
1. to be able to design an experiment
2. to be able to write a GROUP
lab report
3. to be able to graph
information
Example: Pill Bug Experiment
• Demonstrates experimental design
principles and scientific method
• Constructivist
Approach
Open-ended
lab
ExD Template
Title:
Hypothesis:
Independent Variable (IV):
GROUPS
Repeated Trials
Dependent Variable (DV):
Control:
Constants:
1)
2)
3)
Creating an ExD
• Define the problem
– “The Effect Of Substrate On
Pillbug Habitat Selection”
• Define the Independent Variable(s)
– Time in habitat chamber
• Define the Dependent Variable(s)
– Type of substrate
Creating an ExD
• Define the Experimental Group(s)
– Cut grass, wood chips
• Define the Control Group
– Chamber with natural humus
substrate
Creating an ExD
• Make a Hypothesis
– If Pillbugs prefer the natural humus
chamber, then they will stay there at
least 80% of the time after the first
10 minutes of
experimentation.
Creating an ExD
• Determine the Experimental
Constants
– Moisture level, temperature, food, lack
of predation
• Choose and
Sketch the
set-up
Creating an ExD
• Determine the number of trials or groups
needed for validity
– 10 pillbugs/chamber
– 10 thirty-second trials
• Determine how the results will be
quantified
– # of pillbugs/
sec
– T-test
chamber/30
Write Up the Procedure
• 1) Prepare a choice chamber
• 2) Cover the bottom of each chamber with
either wood chips, cut grass or natural
humus
• 3) Transfer ten pillbugs from the stock culture
into each
chamber
• 4) Cover the chambers
choice
Write Up the Procedure
• 5)
Count and record how many
pillbugs are in each chamber every 30
seconds for I0 minutes
Run the Experiment
• Quantitatively summarize data
– Make a Bar Graph of the number of
pillbugs in experimental and control
chambers per 30 second
interval.
Substrate Preference in Pill Bugs
30
of
P
#
– Perform a
“t-test”
ill
bu
gs
.
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
30
60
90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300
Time (secs)
Wood Chips Cut Grass
Natural Humus
Analyze The Results
• Interpret statistics properly
– DON’T make broad statements from
small samples
– Use P  .05 that differences have
occurred from chance alone
Analyze The Results
•
•
•
•
Compare data with other groups
Analyze the trends
Address errors
Look at all
alternative
interpretations
Come to a Conclusion
• Validate the hypothesis
– Decide whether your data fits the:
 Null hypothesis or
 Alternative hypothesis
Retest
• Refine the experiment
– Choose the same size pillbugs
• Re-test
• Write a group
Lab Report
ExD Using Advertisements
• To show what you know about
experimental design, you will
design an experiment to test the
claims in
a magazine
ad.
ExD Using Advertisements
Procedure
1. Select a magazine ad.
2. Neatly cut out the advertisement.
3. Design a valid experiment that
focuses on what the magazine ad
is claiming.
4. Create an Experimental Design
Chart showing the design of your
valid experiment.
– Neatly written using markers.
Procedure
5. Write a complete list of steps to
perform the experiment. Things to
consider:
–
–
–
–
–
How much product to apply
How to choose participants
How to measure the responses/ variables
# of trials
What are the constants and how would
you control them
– What is the control
– What types of experimental groups are
used, etc.
Procedure
6. Peer Review your procedure with
another group. Redraft your procedure
based on the all revisions suggested.
7. Attach the ad and the procedure to the
front of
Group Member Names
your poster.
Construct
Experimental Design Chart
Here
Attach
AD here
Attach
Procedure
Here
Developed by
Anne F. Maben
AVID LACOE Science Coach