A Description of Inquiry Workshops and Programs Which Districts Are Eligible? How to Apply Institute Faculty Institute Advisory Board

A Description of Inquiry ©1998 Exploratorium At the Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry our work in science education is deeply rooted in the belief that human beings are natural inquirers and that inquiry is at the heart of all learning. The work that we do with educators is designed to give them an opportunity to personally experience the process of learning science through inquiry. Our hope is that this experience will stimulate their thinking about how to create classrooms that are supportive environments for children's inquiry. Inquiry is an approach to learning that involves a process of exploring the natural or material world, that leads to asking questions and making discoveries in the search for new understandings. Inquiry, as it relates to science education, should mirror as closely as possible the enterprise of doing real science. The inquiry process is driven by one's own curiosity, wonder, interest or passion to understand an observation or solve a problem. The process begins when the learner notices something that intrigues, surprises, or stimulates a question - something that is new, or something that may not make sense in relationship to the learner's previous experience or current understanding. The next step is to take action - through continued observing, raising questions, making predictions, testing hypotheses and creating theories and conceptual models. The learner must find her or his own pathway through this process. It is rarely a linear progression, but rather more of a back and forth, or cyclical, series of events. As the process unfolds, more observations and questions emerge, giving occasion for deeper interaction and relationship with the phenomena - and greater potential for further development of understanding. Along the way, the inquirer collects and records data, makes representations of results and explanations, and draws upon other resources such as books, videos and the expertise or insights of others. Making meaning from the experience requires reflection, conversations and comparison of findings with others, interpretation of data and observations, and the application of new conceptions to other contexts. All of this serves to help the learner construct new mental frameworks of the world. Teaching science using the inquiry process requires a fundamental reexamination of the relationship between the teacher and the learner whereby the teacher becomes a facilitator or guide for the learner's own process of discovery and creating understanding of the world A Description of Inquiry / Workshops and Programs / Which Districts Are Eligible? / How to Apply / Institute Faculty / Institute Advisory Board Institute for Inquiry Home © Exploratorium 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, CA 94123