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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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