TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR THE SCIENCE CLASSROOM INQUIRY BASED

TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR THE SCIENCE CLASSROOM INQUIRY BASED LEARNING "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand. "

BACKGROUND ® DEFINITION ® According to the National Science Education Standards, “Inquiry is the process by which scientists pose questions about the natural world and seek answers and deeper understanding, rather than knowing by authority or other processes. ” (p. 150, 1992)

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ® BEHAVIORIST MODEL (TRADITIONAL) TEACHER CENTERED ® QUESTIONRESPONSE FORMAT (TEACHER TO STUDENT) ® ® CONSTRUCTIVIST MODEL(INQUIRY) STUDENT CENTERED ® OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS (STUDENT TO TEACHER, STUDENT TO STUDENT) ®

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES ® TRADITIONAL ® ® ® TEACHER COVERS MORE BUT LESS IS RETAINED VIEWS STUDENTS AS A RESEVOIR OF KNOWLEDGE SUBJECT-CENTERED GUIDED BY TEXTBOOK TEACHERS HAVE COVERING COMPULSION (THE MORE THEY COVER, THE BETTER THEY THINK THEY ARE) ® INQUIRY ® ® TEACHER COVERS LESS BUT MORE IS RETAINED MORE HOLISTIC VIEW OF THE LEARNER TEACHERS MORE INTERESTED IN COGNITIVE AND CREATIVE GROWTH TEACH FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MULTI-TALENTS IN HELPING STUDENTS DEVELOP THEIR SELF CONCEPTS

METHOD 1: INQUIRY BASED CLASSROOM Defining Inquiry ® CATEGORIES ® Open: commences with a student’s question, followed by the student designing and conducting an investigation or experiment and communicating results ® Guided: Usually, the teacher chooses the question for research. Students may then aid the instructor on deciding how to proceed with the investigation. ® Coupled: combines a guided-inquiry investigation with an open-inquiry investigation ® Structured: the teacher mainly directs a guided inquiry

METHOD 2: INQUIRY BASED LAB Challenging Students With Experiments ® Authentic experimentation is often overlooked (COOKBOOK LABS) ® Experimentation, allows students to incorporate the scientific methodology using the hands on approach. ® Science teachers should incorporate experiments that are guided, but selfconstrued by the learner

INQUIRY BASED TECHNOLOGY Field Trips on Line, Inquiry Dot Com & Inquiry Through Portable Technology ® Facilitating students outside for lake or river studies can be wearisome ® Students cannot observe the dynamic and temporal changes in a lake or river, or really see how lakes and rivers work ® The expense and logistics involved often make field trips impractical

Solution ® Supplement occasional field trips with Internetbased inquiry lessons ® Ex. Water on the Web (Wow) and River Run ® Network: Student, either from home or in the classroom, can examine data, compare resources, analyze data sets to formulate conclusions, identifying alternative explanations, and communicate findings to others in geographically diverse locations ® Portable Technology: allows students to go beyond the walls of the classroom to do field work

CONCLUSION ® Inquiry demands a shift to a more studentcentered classroom ® No research was found, advocating that one style should completely substitute the other ® There advantages and disadvantages with inquiry learning (Depending on theoretical framework) ® Inquiry can be facilitated through the use of technology