MWM and the Inquiry Continuum

Scientific inquiry is such an integral part of student learning that the framers of the National Science Standards decided to make it a content standard and not label it as a skill. By doing that, they emphasized the importance of inquiry as an overall expectation of science classrooms.

The Inquiry Continuum

Inquiry can be done on different levels: limited, structured, guided, open, or anywhere in between.

On the low end of the continuum are traditional laboratory activities. These are confirmation activities in which students may have known the answer in advance, do not choose the question, and do not choose the experimental method. To do inquiry does not mean to throw out many of the good labs that have been part of science classes for years. It does mean trying to move these labs up on the inquiry continuum by focusing on a specific inquiry skill.

For example, in the traditional copper-silver nitrate solution lab, students typically find the mass of the silver nitrate before reaction with copper wire, find the mass of the silver after the reaction, convert both to moles, compare the equation, and then the stoichiometry is verified. However, a small modification in this lab can create a situation in which students need to make a prediction that increases their investment in learning.

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In this type of activity students do not know the answer in advance, but do not choose the question or the experimental method. Many of the exploratory or staging activities in the MWM modules are of this nature. They are more scripted investigations that precede the design project. They provide a foundation for student understanding of the principles and concepts that inform the design project. For example, the activity "Testing a Foam Composite" prompts students to predict which kinds of layered foam beams will be the strongest and most flexible. Students measure the strength and stiffness of different kinds of layered composites made from posterboard and foam in order to explore how reinforcement contributes to strength and stiffness. Following the activity, where students gather data on the strength and stiffness of different beams, they reflect on their original predictions and consider how what they have learned might apply to later design decisions.

Many traditional labs can be stepped up a notch on the inquiry continuum with some minor tweaking. For example, to move the traditional copper-silver nitrate solution lab up on the inquiry continuum, students could instead be given a sample of silver nitrate without knowing the mass, find the mass of copper wire, react it with the solution, clean the copper, and put it in a sealed envelope. By obtaining the mass of the silver produced, the mass of the copper wire in the envelope can be predicted. It's exciting when the moment of truth comes and students place their copper wire on the balance to compare the prediction with the actual results.

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In the mid area of the continuum are experiments or design activities in which the teacher asks a question and students must design the experimental procedure to answer it. Here are some examples:

While studying thermodynamics, students are given an assortment of solids and are asked to conduct an experiment to determine the best substances to use in designing a hot pack and a cold pack. The recommendation must consider heat, safety, and cost factors.

To show that they understand the concept of reaction rate, students can be provided with an acid, a strip of magnesium ribbon, and an assigned reaction rate for the production of gas. Using the scenario that students are members of a blimp manufacturer, they plan an experiment to determine the set of conditions that will achieve the assigned rate for the blimp design.

The first of the two design projects in the MWM modules follows the structure of the teacher-guided inquiry. Once students have finished the exploratory activities, the design project allows students to pursue their own investigation within design constraints similar to the above examples.

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Moving up the continuum to an even higher level of inquiry, the teacher provides the topic that serves as a framework from which students are responsible for choosing a question to investigate, and designing the experimental method as well. For example, the teacher facilitates the students conducting open-ended polymers design in the MWM module to pursue their own questions of interest and design and test a set of prototypes that would be a new application or a possible improvement on an existing application of polymers.

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