About

Scientific Inquiry
What is it?

Scientific inquiry is a term that encompasses a variety of techniques that scientists use to explore the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence they find. According to the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council 1996) inquiry activities include making observations; posing questions; finding out what is already known; planning investigations; reviewing past knowledge in light of experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data; proposing explanations; and communicating the results.

The inquiry process is often expressed as a simplified set of steps called the inquiry cycle. Different authors use slightly different terms and outlines, but the framework employed by this project follows the basic pattern 1.Form Question or Hypothesis, 2. Plan Experiment 3. Observe Outcomes and Collect Data, 4. Analyze Data, 5. Summarize and Communicate, 6. Revise Question or Hypothesis and begin cycle again. The process is often much more complicated than that, with mini cycles occurring in between the steps. For example, often, collecting data and making observations will lead a student to ask a new question or form a new hypothesis before they have completed the entire process. Also, though the steps are numbered here, the process of inquiry is a cycle. As with all cycles, it really has no beginning or end.

The Role of Inquiry in Science Education

In recent years there has been a growing movement to integrate inquiry into science education (Alberts 2000, Bybee 2000, Edelson et al. 1999, Murray et al 1998, Prince and Kelly 1996,Van Joolingen and De Jong 1996, White and Frederiksen and 1995,). We have come to understand that science is not made up merely of static, proven facts that are passed down from generation to generation. Rather, it is a fluid process of articulating questions, making and testing hypotheses and refining and challenging previous theories. Thus, an inquiry based approach to teaching, which encourages students to ask questions, explore explanations, and take part in the scientific process, gives students an authentic understanding of the true nature of scientific knowledge and processes. A strictly lecture-based presentation of facts and concepts, on the other hand, may lead students to believe that everything has been figured out already and that the study of science is an exercise in memorization rather than investigation.

By promoting active participation, the process of inquiry may help students be self-motivated, to take control of their learning and to develop a sense of accomplishment, ownership, and capability in science. Some inquiry activities encourage students to pursue their own questions. This gives students even more power over, and responsibility for, their own education. Inquiry learning also allows students to discover things for themselves and refine their previous understanding of scientific concepts. The knowledge they obtain this way has the potential be more meaningful to them than information that they have received in a more passive manner.

When students memorize facts that someone else has told them, they run the risk of misunderstanding them. However, in order to construct a concept themselves students must develop their own understanding of it. In other words, while students can recite facts without completely comprehending them, it is more difficult for them to create a working theory while retaining misconceptions about it. On the other hand, it is sometimes possible for inquiry learning to lead to or support misconceptions if students do not recognize sources of error, misinterpret data, or exhibit confirmation bias. However, if students have misconceptions, being exposed to data or processes may be more effective in terms of helping them work toward a working concept, than simply being told that their explanation is wrong.

Being confronted with the limits of their knowledge, as when the results of an experiment or investigation are not what they had expected, may cause some students to become more curious and interested in the subject they are studying. Other students may believe so strongly in a misconception that they may not want to give it up right away, even if it is contradicted by their observations. With exposure to evidence and opportunities to challenge their own and others hypotheses to explain the evidence, students may be more likely to accept the working concept. Though a lecture, in which students are more passive, might be more time efficient in presenting concepts, it may be less effective in terms of building understanding.

Once students have constructed a working concept, inquiry learning can encourage them to apply that knowledge, thereby reinforcing what they know, encouraging them to remember what they have learned and helping them make connections among different concepts (and again making them aware of gaps in their knowledge). Some inquiry investigations require background information and this need can provide impetus to do library research, a context in which the research feels relevant and useful, and tools with which to assess the value of information they find in books or on the web. Even lectures may become more relevant and useful for students if they start to use them as a tool to answer their questions, rather than a call to memorize facts that a teacher deems important.

Computers and Inquiry

As computers become more integrated into society and the classroom there is a growing interest in the potential for technology to support inquiry-based learning. Computers can aid the inquiry process by helping students to collect, exchange, and analyze scientific data, as well as to model scientific principles in such diverse fields as physics, ecology and climatology.

Many educational computer programs are arcade-style games in which students perform tasks (such as multiplication problems) for points. While some such programs may have value in terms of helping students learn and memorize information, SimForest is of another type of educational software in which the computer program is a genuine scientific tool, and the purpose of using it is not to earn points or play game, but rather to investigate, observe, and interpret scientific data and processes.