CHAPTER 4 Student Inquiry and Research: Developing Students’ Authentic Inquiry Skill

1. CHAPTER 4Student Inquiry and Research: Developing Students’ Authentic Inquiry Skill This chapter discusses the course, Methods in Scientific Inquiry (MSI), how knowledge from this course has transferred into our science elective program, and how it has improved the quality of SIR investigations that our students conduct.

2. Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) • SIR : students inquiry and research programs • For juniors and seniors in high school • Voluntary basis • MSI : Methods in Scientific Inquiry • help prepare students for their own independent investigations • support development habits important to science

3. SIR • Standards = planning, investigating, analyzing, and communicating • Objectives – • Explore compelling questions of interest • Conduct original research • Create and invent products and services • Develop businesses • Share work through presentations and publications • Collaborate with other students, advisors, inventors, researchers, and scholars throughout the world

4. IMSA Science Program • Sophomore year = MSI • Addresses three broad areas • (1) data acquisition and analysis • (2) experimental design • (3)written and oral communication • Junior and Senior year = SIR • Similar to a small college

5. Effects of MSI on SIR & Long-term Outcomes • Juniors scored higher percent than seniors in various writing skills • Hard to have a solid analysis • Helped students figure our what they wanted to do after high school

6. SIR Conclusion • To better prepare students for research, MSI was developed • MSI has some objectives that transfer into other courses and research experience • SIR is a type of inquiry that is called authentic inquiry – “act of doing science” • SIR is more “real world” and personalized • Relating to STEM () fields – NSES found value of undergraduate STEM research experience as a positive predictor of continued career participation in STEM fields

7. CHAPTER 5: From Wyoming to Florida, They Ask, “Why Wasn’t I Taught This Way?” As educators recognize the power of inquiry in the classroom, the conceptual change model (CCM) is gaining popularity across the nation

8. Conceptual Change Model • Designed for physical science – now used in science, math, engineering, and other disciplines • Hands on does not mean inquiry! • CCM uses Mental Model Building • begins with visualization, writing or drawing ideas, sharing, confronting beliefs, studying expert info, revise beliefs, continue to connections, suggest application and generate new questions to study

9. CCM and NSES • CCM is aligned with processes advocated in NSES • Learners are challenged to confront their preconceptions though active investigation • “uncovering” a concept in depth rather than “covering” many topics superficially • Activities that develop process skills though real scientific investigation • Integrating and applying concepts – learners make connections by generation examples and thinking of applications

10. 6 Phases of CCM • Commit to an outcome or position • Expose beliefs • Confront beliefs • Accommodate the concept • Extend the concept • Go beyond

11. Relationship with Essential Features of Inquiry • Engages in scientifically oriented question – P1 & P2 • Gives priority to evidence in responding to question – P3 • Formulates explanation from evidence – P4 • Connects information to scientific theory – P5 • Communicates and justifies explanations – P4-P6

12. Exemplary Practices • Spread CCM through modeled lessons through participants acting as the learners • Participants become more comfortable with CCM when educators witness the model’s application in actual classrooms or when they teach a well-planned lesson themselves • “They discover students CAN think critically, think deeply, and understand complex concepts and relationships.”