Transcript What is “inquiry” in K-12 science education?

Dr. Brad Hoge
Director of HUNSTEM
University of Houston Downtown
(713) 221-8289
[email protected]
http://HUNSTEM.uhd.edu
Inquiry Works Best
 Research shows that students learn
science best by engaging in hands-on
minds-on lessons through a inquiry
based curriculum (Abell and Bryan,
1997; Stepans, et. al., 1995: Metz,
1995; Glasson, 1989).
What is “inquiry” in K-12
science education?
Inquiry as defined in the National Science Education
Standards (NRC, 1995)
 … a multifaceted activity that involves making observations;
posing questions; examining books and other sources of
information to see what is already known; planning
investigations; reviewing what is already known in light of
experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze and
interpret data; proposing answers, explanations and predictions;
and communicating the results.
 Inquiry requires identification of assumptions, use of critical and
logical thinking, and consideration of alternative explanations.
Goals for All Students
 Learn the principles and concepts of
science (the big ideas).
 Be able to do science (the procedural
skills and mental reasoning abilities
needed to carry out an investigation).
 Understand the nature of science as a
human activity, a way of constructing
knowledge.
Skills are more important than
knowledge
NSF Standards for Inquiry
Students should be able to:
 Identify questions and concepts for
identification
 Design and conduct investigations
 Use technology and math to aid an
investigation
 Formulate explanations using logic and
evidence
 Analyze alternative explanations
 Communicate and defend an argument
NSF Standards for Inquiry
Students should understand that in science:
 Investigations involve asking a question and
comparing the answer to what is known
 Explanations emphasize evidence
 Explanations have logically consistent
arguments
 Investigations are repeatable by others
 Scientists make their results public, review
and ask each other questions
Unexpected results are often
the most important
Classroom Inquiry as a Teaching
and Learning Strategy
 Learners are engaged by scientifically oriented
questions
 Learners give priority to evidence, which allows them
to develop and evaluate explanations that address
scientifically oriented questions
 Learners formulate explanations from evidence to
address scientifically oriented questions
 Learners evaluate their explanations in light of
alternative explanations, particularly those reflecting
scientific understanding
 Learners communicate and justify their proposed
explanations
Research Base on Learning
 People build new knowledge and
understanding based on what they already
know and believe (“prior knowledge”)
 Understanding science is not just knowing
facts; people must organize and actively build
them into a conceptual framework to be
useful in new settings (“constructivism”)
 People need to monitor and reflect on their
own learning as they learn (“metacognition”)
How People Learn, NRC 1999.
How People Learn
Individuals do not obtain knowledge by
internalizing it from the outside but by
constructing it from within, in
interaction with the environment (Kamii,
Manning, & Manning, 1991; Perkins,
1992; Piaget, 1969; Vygotsky, 1978)
Constructivism
 Constructivist views of learning provide
a theoretical framework to teachers in
helping students reconstruct their own
understanding through a process of
interacting with objects in the
environment and engaging in higherlevel thinking and problem solving
(Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer, &
Scott, 1994).
Inquiry Is Scientific Method
Constructivism provides the theoretical framework for all
forms of project-based learning (Grant, 2002).
PBS pedagogy (Schneider, Krajcik, Marx, & Soloway, 2002)
assumes that students constantly ask and refine
questions; design and conduct multiple investigations;
gather, analyze, interpret, and draw conclusions from
data; and report findings.
. . . by extension, learning scientific process (literacy)
extends beyond the classroom (Bransfield etal, 1999).
Science starts with careful
observation
Careful observation means being
prepared (making predictions)
Mastery of facts is not
necessarily understanding!
Ideas must be organized or “built” by the
learner into a conceptual framework in
order to be useful.
 Students sort physics problems by
superficial features.
 Experts sort problems by concepts.
The Monotillation of Traxoline
It is very important that you learn about traxoline. Traxoline is a
new form of zionter. It is monotilled in Ceristanna. The
Ceristannians gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then
bracter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may well be one of our
most lukised snezlaus in the future because of our zionter
lescelidge.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is traxoline?
Where is traxoline monotilled?
How is traxoline quaselled?
Why is traxoline important?
Use Evolutionary Psychology
E.O. Wilson stated, the benefits of
metaphor over analogy in teaching
science is rooted in our evolutionary
past. We use metaphor to make sense
of our world.
Scientific Method
 Scientists explore the physical world
for reproducible patterns which they
represent by models and organize into
theories according to laws (Hestenes,
2004).
The acquisition of knowledge does not
destroy the beauty of experience
Strategies for helping conceptbuilding
 Plan activities (hands-on, minds-on)
rather than lectures
 Have students predict-observe-explain
 Have students work in groups
 Have students relate ideas to existing
knowledge
 Be “a guide on the side”, not “a sage on
the stage”
Metacognition:
Thinking about Thinking
 Connecting new information to prior
knowledge
 Selecting thinking strategies deliberately
 Planning, monitoring and evaluating
own thinking processes
A statistic requires at least
three data points
Common sense is part of
science
Q. An army bus holds 36 soldiers. If
1128 soldiers are being bused to their
training site, how many buses are
needed?
A. 31 R 12
B. 31
C. 32
Use Scientific Method
 Simply providing knowledge without
experience or vice versa does not seem
to be sufficient for the development of
metacognitive control (Livingston,
1996).
 The scientific process (historically and
in a philosophical perspective) is the
ultimate metacognitive strategy for
problem solving.
Science is interdisciplinary
Use your whole brain
Three books are sitting on a shelf. Each
book is two inches thick with front and
back covers 1/6th of an inch thick. If a
book worm chews threw the books from
page one of the first book to the last
page of the last book, how many inches
does the book worm chew through?
Conclusions are only as good as
the assumptions that go into
them
New discoveries lead to new
problems
Inquiry in the Classroom
Requires an Effective Learning
Community