INSES Chapters 1 & 2

I loved the way the first chapter introduced scientific inquiry by providing examples of real-life scientists doing what scientists do - making observations, asking questions, drawing on prior knowledge to help answer those questions, and analyzing their results. Of course, before reading this article I was aware that the scientific process went something like that, but I never really connected inquiry-based learning with the concept that it is how scientists learn as well as elementary students. And, honestly, I'd love to provide an abridged version of Chapter 1 to a class of elementary school science students so they can see that all of the things we do in science class have real, profound value in the large world outside the scope of the classroom. If someone had told me the story of the geologist and seismologist when I was in elementary school, I would have probably approached science with a much more opened mind and would probably not detest it as much as I do (or did, before beginning this course).

That being said, the article also provided a lot of valuable information about why inquiry-based learning is so important to student success. There was one passage that stood out to me - "Humans are innately curious, as anyone knows who has watched a newborn. From birth, children employ trial-and-error techniques to learn about the world around them...We reflect on the world around us by observing, gathering, assembling, and synthesizing information. We develop and use tools to measure and observe as well as to analyze information and create models. We check and re-check what we think will happen and compare results to what we already know. We change our ideas based on what we learn" (5).

I read this passage and thought, "Wow." Life is made up of what we refer to so strictly as the 'scientific process' - which is absolutely thrilling to think about from a teacher's perspective. When learning is forced upon us as humans - when we are handed information and asked to regurgitate it - we are not reaching our full potential and are rather just prescribing to a set of rules established by an outdated educational philosophy. Children need to understand that science imitates life, and that all of that genuine learning we all experience through our own personal trials and errors is just like the scientific process we all know and love (or hate, if it's been taught the more 'traditional' route).