[This is the start of a thread on our planning board… I’m just posting my initial thoughs…]

One of the things I really saw at NSTA is that, especially in science-education, the word "inquiry" gets thrown around like crazy, with all sorts of different meanings.

I think SLA needs a general definition and then I think we need to also define two sub-defintions — guided inquiry and open-ended inquiry.

I’ll start with my ideas…

Inquiry-based teaching — is the notion that education moves from the questions we ask in our classroom, as teachers and students. It has its roots in the scientific method, with the process of asking questions about our physical world with the purpose of, through hypothesis, research, collaboration and analysis, seeking answers to those questions.

It suggests a process that starts with the questions we ask and deals with the learning we can create with our answers. At its best, inquiry means that both teacher and student can learn from the answers we seek.

Inquiry is NOT asking questions that we already know all the answers to.

Guided-inquiry — to me, this is where the teachers ask the questions to start the process, although student questions should also take a strong role. It also suggests that there is more of a path to follow as the students find answers. We should use guided-inquiry to help students build the skills to be able to do…

Open-ended inquiry — where students find the questions and answers based on their own ideas. The capstone project should be the ultimate manifestation of SLA students’ journey to open-ended inquiry.

This is wordy as all get-out… thoughts?