Inquiry-based science lessons can be either:
� Open: The lesson is wholly Inquiry-based. The students decide on the problem and question to investigate and the method to use to answer it.
� Guided: In guided inquiry the teacher provides the question that needs to be answered. The students decide on the best method in which to answer this question.
� Structured: In structured inquiry the teacher provides the students both with the question to be answered and the method to use to answer it, but not the expected outcome. The only difference between structured inquiry and confirmation exercises is that in structured inquiry the student does not know the outcome of the experiment.
� Confirmation Exercises: these are not inquiry-based at all. In confirmation exercises the teacher tells the students what the solution is to the question at the beginning of the lesson, and then gives instructions of how to conduct an experiment to confirm this.
These different categories of inquiry can be seen as being analogous to Schwab and Herron�s levels of inquiry, with confirmation exercises being at inquiry level 0, and open inquiry being at level 3. Here is an example of how an activity about the rate of photosynthesis in pondweed, could be taught with these different grades of inquiry:
� Open: Students are told to �investigate the factors which affect the rate of photosynthesis in pondweed�.
� Guided inquiry: Students are told to design and conduct an experiment to answer the following question �how does light intensity affect the rate of photosynthesis in pondweed?�
� Structured inquiry: Students are told �how does light intensity affect the rate of photosynthesis in pondweed? Collect a lamp, a beaker, and a sprig of pondweed, and set the experiment up as in the diagram provided. Observe how many bubbles of air come from the pondweed each minute when the lamp is at 10, 20 and 30 cm distance from the pondweed. Fill in this table.�
� Confirmation exercise: Students are told �the rate of photosynthesis is greater at higher light intensities. You will see this in the following experiment. Collect a lamp, a beaker, and a sprig of pondweed, and set the experiment up as in this diagram. Observe how many bubbles of air come from the pondweed each minute when the lamp is at 10, 20 and 30 cm distance from the pondweed. Fill in this table. As you can see more bubbles of air are produced when the lamp is closer to the pondweed.�
Estracts from 'teaching inquiry-based science' by Mark Walker. Available from Amazon bookstores here.