IBSE Final

78 NaTIoNal SCIENCE TEaChERS aSSoCIaTIoN

Chapter 4 Teaching Science as Inquiry

In a separate chapter, “Effective Learning and Teaching,” Science for All

Americans (AAAS 1989, pp. 147–149) has a general recommendation: “Teaching

Should Be Consistent With the Nature of Scientific Inquiry,” followed by specific

recommendations:

• Start with questions about nature

• Engage students actively

• Concentrate on the collection and use of evidence

• Provide historical perspectives

• Insist on clear expression

• Use a team approach

• Do not separate knowing from finding out

• Deemphasize the memorization of technical vocabulary

Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS 1993) provides actual learning

outcomes for the aforementioned chapters on the nature of science, historical

perspectives, and habits of mind. In addition, there is an excellent research base

that indicates what students should know and be able to do relative to various

benchmarks. Project 2061 also set in place goals and specific benchmarks for

the teaching aspect of scientific inquiry as content and made recommendations

for using teaching techniques associated with inquiry. The work of this project

clearly set the stage and influenced the National Science Education Standards

(NRC 1996).

National Science Education Standards

More than a decade ago, the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996)

presented national policies that included teaching science as inquiry. Release

of the standards again brought the issue of teaching science as inquiry to the

forefront in the education community. In the National Science Education Standards

(NRC 1996), scientific inquiry refers to several related but different aspects of

teaching and learning: the ways scientists study the natural world, activities of

students, strategies of teaching, and outcomes that students should learn. The

National Science Education Standards provides the following statement on scien-

tific inquiry:

[I]nquiry is a multifaceted activity that involves making observations; posing

questions; examining books and other sources of information to see what is

already known; planning investigations; reviewing what is already known in

light of experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret

data; proposing the results. Inquiry requires identification of assumptions, use

of critical and logical thinking, and consideration of alternative explanations.

(NRC 1996, p. 23)