Five Fluid Steps to Inquire Based Instruction

In my teaching philosophy I share how I want to create a classroom that creates curiosity through exploration to discovery. I want my students to not only discover different career opportunities, but to build curiosity through their passion and potential. 

According to the article by Anna J. Warner and Brian E. Myers, students engage in five activities when they engage in inquiry learning and use the scientific method, as noted in the National Science Education Standards published by the National Academy of Sciences. Although these tasks occur in a logical progression, inquiry is a fluid process, and one task may lead back to a previous task. This process is illustrated in figure below. According to the National Academy of Sciences (1995), when students learn through inquiry, they are learning through variability.

Ideally, I want each student to be engaged in classroom and laboratory instruction. Through the labs and this week’s weekly investment, I believe I have I realized how to achieve this. Below I have highlighted each step and an example of how this can be implemented into instruction to create curiosity and engagement in a plant science lesson.

1.      Question
• This is the question that gets the gears grinding, that triggers the thoughts and curiosity into exploration. For example, students walk into the room and see two tomato plant samples. The tomato plants were planted on the same day, but one is larger than the other. A question to ask is: Why does sample A seem to be growing faster than sample B?
2. Investigate

• Now that the question is presented, we must ask our students to put their detective hats on. Using some previous knowledge, students run tests, monitor field and growth conditions and keep track of results.  

3. Use Evidence to Describe, Explain & Predict

• Now, a few days later, like true researchers students will dig deeper and evaluate the data that they have collected. They will rule out collected information that does not lead them closer to a solution and use other information to predict other causes

REPEAT 

• In a really successful inquiry-based learning environment, steps 2 and 3 would keep happening until students reach a more solidified solution. Trial and error will occur, but a solid answer can be found. There is no time for failure.

4. Connect Evidence to Knowledge
• And this is where everything comes together! It's the ‘ah-ha’ moment, where students discovery and curiosity leads them to a solution as to why plant sample A was growing faster than sample B.
5. Share Findings
• This has been a learning process. It's important to share and celebrate what the students have discovered and created. It's also crucial to reflect on the learning process. Do your students understand why they explored the difference in growth in the soybean plants? What new skills and knowledge did they gain from this experience?

I am excited to see how I can implement these steps into instruction to create curiosity and engagement in a plant science lesson.

Overall, inquire based instruction allows students to develop curiosity to discover. In addition, as an agricultural educator I can play a vital role in achieving some of the standards in science, math, reading, and writing, while teaching the agricultural curriculum. This is because when students engage in inquiry, they utilize skills from across multiple disciplines (e.g., science, math, social science, language arts, and creative thinking) by collaborating with others, collecting and interpreting data, organizing and developing representations of their data, and sharing their findings with others.

References:

Warner, A.J. & Myers, B.E. (2011) What inquiry-based instruction? Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC07500.pdf