What is inquiry-based science?
The second session was purely lecture based
and introduced the theoretical background of inquirybased
science. Students learned what inquiry-based
science was, its characteristics, and its development.
They were told that inquiry-based science is an open
student centered teaching technique. The different
types of inquiry-based science; open, guided or
structured, were also discussed. To reinforce the
ideas taught in this session students had to design a
simple inquiry-based experimental lesson for
homework.
Designing a simple experimental lesson
A good way to find out if students
understand what inquiry-based science teaching
involves is to ask them to plan an inquiry-based
lesson. Groups of students were given a set title and
had to use this to develop a suitable inquiry lesson.
The lesson plans had to include some kind of
practical experiment or investigation, which the
schoolchildren themselves design or plan. The
themes which the students are given included;
dandelion growth, microscopy of human hairs,
housefly anatomy, woodlice behavior, and nettle
stinging.
what reactions it caused in the fish. Some students
began cutting the card into fish shapes and then
seeing how the fish reacted to different sizes and
colors of cardboard fish. Not everything seemed to
work and this worried some students.
The practical work took some time, mainly
because of the hesitancy of the students in deciding
themselves what to do. At the end of the experiment
the idea that in inquiry-based teaching the student
decides what to study, what to do, and what the
answers mean were discussed. This activity has
proved to be a good introduction to open methods of
teaching for students.