ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
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Lisa,
        Regarding inquiry-based learning, we utilize it in our hands on
chemistry lab. As a background, we have 6 separate experiments open to be
done by any visitor to our science center. Our goal is to guide the kids and
visitors to for a hypothesis and then to perform an experiment to test that.
What we have done is to set up an instruction sheet, laid out in the form of
the scientific method. By the second section of the sheet the kids are given
some background information and they are asked a question which they use to
form a hypothesis. Each experiment contains the materials needed to perform
the task at hand. By the end of the experiment the kids will know whether or
not their hypothesis was correct. At the end of the sheet we explain what
happened in that particular experiment. I will admit many of the kids we see
do not want to read the sheets. We have taken this into account. The
directions for the experiment at set off by a colored background. Many kids
only read these. Within the directions we have placed directed questions
such as, "What color is the liquid now and why?" or "What do you think will
happen when you mix the two materials together?" This layout has enabled us
to reach eager kids with a great deal of inquiry-based learning while still
sneaking some of it in on the not so eager kids.

Tim Pula
Gulf Coast Exploreum

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lisa Jo Rudy
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 8:03 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Inquiry-based learning

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*

My sense is that inquiry-based learning MUST be tempered by some kind of
structured guidance or the kids won't really know HOW to look or WHAT to
look for.
 I could also easily imagine kids coming up with questions that are
unanswerable within a hands-on setting (why do things fall?  how big was the
biggest
dinosaur? etc.).  Lastly, I could imagine kids designing experiments that
really
aren't useful for gaining info because they don't really understand the
scientific method.

What are some of the techniques you use to ensure that inquiry-based
learning
doesn't disintegrate into, say, blowing bubbles at each other for an hour?
In the one and only workshop I attended on inquiry-based learning, we wound
up
answering our question ("can you make bubbles a foot high?") in five
minutes,
then proceeded to make a mess (of course, we were grown ups, which might
explain a lot!).






 Lisa Jo Rudy, Writer/Consultant
625 Chelten Hills Drive
Elkins Park, PA 19027
www.lisarudy.com
215-635-9735

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