| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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written documents, responses in interviews, and components of their videotaped lessons.
Inquiry and Science Education Reform
Inquiry is the central focus of science teaching, according to the National Science Education Standards (NSES) (National Research Council [NRC], 1996). This theme is echoed in other major science education reform documents such as Science for All Americans (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS] 1989) and the Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy (1993).
In the past, inquiry had been loosely defined in the science education community (Anderson, 1999). The definition lacked specificity. The term was often used with different meanings. The book by the NRC (2000), Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards, helped to clarify educators’ understanding of inquiry. The NSES (1996) and Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards documents address three perceptions of inquiry: inquiry as abilities (sometimes referred to as process skills), inquiry as a teaching method, and student understandings of “scientific inquiry” as studied by scholars focusing on the history and philosophy of science. Content standards for science as Inquiry in the National Science Education Standards include both abilities and understandings of inquiry for students, with understandings and abilities of inquiry becoming more complex as the students move from kindergarten through the 12th grades.
Definitions of inquiry in this document are as follows (primarily based upon descriptions in the NSES, 1996):
1. Scientific inquiry—the things that scientists do as they endeavor to answer questions about the natural world.