There are several parts to an inquiry-based science lesson
-Introducing a problem
-Generating an investigation question
-Generating a hypothesis
-Planning an experiment
-Conducting an experiment
-Concluding and Evaluating
Generating an investigation question
It cannot be overemphasized how important it is to find and develop a good question to investi-gate for inquiry-based science to function properly. As should have become clear if you read the chapter on Scientific Inquiry a good starting question is the basis of all scientific investigation, and exactly the same is true of inquiry-based science. Without a good starting question your stu-dents will not be able to design and conduct an experiment, and their attempt at inquiry-based science will fail.
Unfortunately the questions children ask are not normally suitable for investigation. Children tend to ask �Why�, �How� or �What� questions. Why is the sky blue? How do cars work? What do cows eat? These are knowledge-based questions and the child asks them to get a specific piece of in-formation, or simply to express an interest in something. Questions such as these cannot be used to design profitable investigations.
It should not be surprising that children pose so few questions suitable for investigation. After all most of the questions which teachers ask tend also to be knowledge based. Most teachers ask questions in order to �test� students, to see if they know something or have remembered some-thing.
The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you yourself understand what exactly a good investigation question is. This is especially important for teachers without a science background who may not know how to start a scientific investigation, and may not be sure of which questions are needed.
An investigation question is a question that can be answered by conducting an experiment. Inves-tigation questions should aim to answer a single specific solvable problem. For example �How do plants grow?� is not a good investigation question, it is too broad and it is unclear what exactly needs to be studied. Can you think of an experiment to find out how plants grow? However, the question �What effect does temperature have on plant growth?� is a much better investigation question. It is clear what you want to find out. It would not be too difficult to design an experi-ment to answer this question. Here are some examples of questions that are too broad and not suitable:
�What are trees like?�
�How does the heart work?�
�Why do we breathe?�
�How do stick insects behave?�
�How do mice behave?�
�What is density?�
Can you design an experiment to answer these questions? If not, then neither will your students. These questions may be good as the title of a topic area, but cannot be used in an experiment eas-ily. Consider these questions instead:
�Do different trees have different heights?�
�What things make your heart beat faster?�
�How fast do stick insects move?�
�Which foods are mice able to smell along a maze?
�What shape of objects sink or swim?�
Would you be able to design an experiment to answer these questions? These questions are much more specific and can be used in an experimental setting. These are the questions you should aim to get students to generate during an inquiry-based lesson.
Now you understand what exactly an investigation question is you have to find ways to get your students to make them. This is probably the most difficult stage of the inquiry-process and the one which students will have most difficulty with. Often you will have to provide a question that the students can use, because they will not be able to create one on their own. This does not mean the lesson is no longer inquiry-based, only that it is at a lower level of inquiry than it would be if the students developed there own question to investigate.
You need to try to train his or her students to ask good questions. Maybe the best way of doing this is to use and pose investigation questions yourself and to use investigation questions around the classroom. For example you could include investigation questions on wall displays or around science areas. You can ask students to occasionally make their own questions about a topic they have answered questions on for homework, or after they have read part of a book. If students are gradually introduced to these types of questions they will find it much easier to ask suitable ques-tions later on. Until the students reach this stage you will often have to provide the question that forms the basis of an experiment.
Generation of a hypothesis:
A hypothesis is a single statement that scientists make about the problem they are studying. An experiment is then done to see if the hypothesis is correct or not. An experiment is really a kind of hypothesis testing.
There is some disagreement over the importance of getting students to develop a hypothesis to be tested. The reason for this is that often scientists often do not develop a hypothesis until later in their investigations. However, what is important is to get the students to predict what could happen. Even if the students are not asked to develop a hypothesis they should be made to guess what will happen in the experiment.
The most frequently used method to get students to develop a hypothesis is the �if�then�� statement. If one thing is altered then this should happen. Getting students to form a hypothesis should be relatively straightforward compared with getting them to generate a suitable question to investigate.
Providing investigation questions
Even if you have to provide students with the investigation question you can still do so in a way that helps them learn how to form investigation questions. Maybe sometime in the future they will �catch on� and not need your help. A good way of doing this is to take suitable points from a brainstorming, list them, and then provide the investigation question beside them. In this way the students see how you form an investigation question from an idea, and later may be able to do the same. For example:
What factors influence how a plant grows? (the original question given to students to answer)
Student generated words Teacher generated investigation question
Heat Do plants in warmer places grow quicker?
Water Do plants given more water grow faster than plants given less water?
Light Do plants grown in lighter places grow faster than plants in darker places?
The students can then take the investigation questions you have generated and continue their in-vestigations. You could form the first investigation question from the first word for the students, and then ask your students to turn the remaining words into suitable investigation questions. Once they have seen �how it is done,� then they are much more able to do so themselves.
To read how to design other sections of the inquiry-based science lesson refer to 'Teaching inquiry-based science' by Mark Walker.