Inquiry in Science Many of us know from personal experience that we learn better when we do something rather than observe something being done. This directly corresponds to the essence of scientific inquiry as learning method. Scientific inquiry is the method of acquiring knowledge, on the part of students, through their active participation in studying process. It allows students to have an understanding of factual information they have learned. Knowledge is the system of information, which consists of elementary blocks. In order for the person to be able to use his knowledge effectively, he must be aware of how these blocks of knowledge are related to each other.
This can only be accomplished if student is given the opportunity to test the validity of obtained knowledge on experimental level. Scientific inquiry, as learning method, started to be increasingly implemented in schools, as our society gets more diversified. Many students come from different cultural backgrounds, which make it increasingly difficult for the teacher to provide learning efficiency by application of dogmatic learning methods. Many students simply refuse to consider theoretical knowledge as being academically valid without, being given the chance to prove it to themselves on practical level. There are a few essential guidelines of how to employ the strategy of scientific inquiry in classroom. The most important of them is connecting personal understandings with those of sound science. Students personal observations help them to memorize factual data more efficiently, because they can relate their sensual experiences to the abstract theory.
The Term Paper on Symbolic Learning Methods
Abstract In this paper, performance of symbolic learning algorithms and neural learning algorithms on different kinds of datasets has been evaluated. Experimental results on the datasets indicate that in the absence of noise, the performances of symbolic and neural learning methods were comparable in most of the cases. For datasets containing only symbolic attributes, in the presence of noise, the ...
Also, in science inquiry, student must link his personal science theories with the generally accepted concepts of the science community. For him, to evaluate the match between his current ideas and those accepted by the science community, he must first discuss his understanding with others, and then actively explore the phenomenon, gaining a more accurate or deeper understanding of it. Therefore, connection and facilitation are crucial factors, when it comes to implementing scientific inquiry in classroom. In addition, it is very important to encourage students to question the surrounding reality, because it stimulates their ability to think in abstract categories, which is a crucial precondition of academic successfulness, on the part of an individual. When learning process is being based on the principle of scientific inquiry; it turns classroom from the gathering of odd individuals into community. In this community, students and teachers share responsibility for learning and collaborate on constructing of understanding.
Students offer their input into many aspects of their learning: how the classroom is set up, how time is structured, which resources are used, which topics are explored, how investigations will proceed, and how findings are reported. Thus, scientific inquiry enables students to actively participate in the process of learning, rather than to remain passive receptacles. In order for the teacher to insure that scientific inquiry will benefit students in classroom, he must take into consideration all the aspects of learning process. However, he will always have to keep in mind that scientific inquiry will turn into another buzz word, without any actual meaning, unless acquiring of new knowledge is being solidly based on use of logic and evidence. It is not a secret that educational standards in America have sunk considerably, in recent years. This comes as the result of more and more students being simply unable to grasp the essence of abstract concepts.
The Term Paper on Strategies for the Early Learning Classroom
Strategies for the Early Learning Classroom Elizabeth Garcia Founder and Head of School, Discovery Day Academy, America Achieves Fellow A marble rolls down a ramp, and children cheer as it reaches the target they have adjusted numerous times. After a small-group reading of Frog and Toad, children gather in a community of inquiry to discuss the nature of being scared and brave at the same time. In ...
Therefore, it is very important to understand what scientific inquiry really stands for. Under no circumstances can we think of it as something that changes the fundamental principles of public education, as some pushers of left-wing agenda are trying to convince us. Scientific inquiry is simply a learning tool, which helps individual to accomplish his academic goal. The obtaining of empirical data has no meaning, without understanding of how such data fits into the theory. In its turn, understanding of theory requires a fair amount of memorising. In order to encourage students to memorise data, teacher must always be thought of as the authority figure, otherwise, schools will slowly begin to turn into the kindergartens.
Therefore, the method of scientific inquiry can only benefit students if it is being properly deployed.
Bibliography:
Gomez, L. and Gordin, D. A Case Study of Open-Ended Scientific Inquiry in a Technology-Supported Classroom. 2003. Northwestern University Evanston. Retrieved March 20, 2007 from http://www.covis.northwestern.edu/info/papers/html /tech-class.html Harwood, W., Reiff, R.
and Phillipson, T. Putting the Puzzle Together: Scientists’ Metaphors for Scientific Inquiry. 2005. Find.
