Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Issues and Challenges in Science Education Research pp 25–42Cite as

Moving the Essence of Inquiry into the Classroom: Engaging Teachers and Students in Authentic Science

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

Facilitating children in classrooms in developing images of science consistent with current practice, and in understanding what science is, what science is not, and the relevancy of science to society has been a long-standing goal of science education in the United States. US education reform documents in the last decade consider inquiry, combined with teaching about nature of science, a central component of science instruction at all grade levels. But, inquiry can be a confusing term. This chapter will focus on promising ways to support teachers and children in developing in-depth understandings of science, using essential features of scientific inquiry, in particular the use of evidence by scientists and making sense of observations. The construct of authenticity as an important theoretical construct will be discussed. In a process of grappling with and making sense of data and through negotiation of ideas with peers and experts in a social context, the learner gains an individual and internalized understanding of science.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1989). Science for all Americans: A project 2061 report on literacy goals in science, mathematics and technology. Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, R. (2002). Reforming science teaching. What research says about inquiry? Journal of Science Teacher Education, 13(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, R., Blair, L., Crawford, B., & Lederman, N. (2003). Just do it? The impact of a science apprenticeship program on high school students’ understandings of the nature of science and scientific inquiry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(5), 487–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braund, M., & Reiss, M. (2006). Towards a more authentic science curriculum: The contribution of out-of-school learning. International Journal of Science Education, 28(12), 1373–1388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bybee, R., McCrae, B., & Laurie, R. (2009). PISA 2006: An assessment of scientific literacy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(8), 865–883.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capps, D. K., & Crawford, B. A. (2010, March 20–24). Teachers translating inquiry-based curriculum to the classroom following professional development: A pilot study. A paper presented at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catley, K., Lehrer, R., & Reiser, B. (2004). Tracing a perspective learning progression. Paper commissioned by the National Academies Commission on Test Design on K-12 Science Achievement. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chinn, C. A., & Malholtra, B. A. (2002). Epistemologically authentic inquiry in schools: A theoretical framework for evaluating inquiry tasks. Science Education, 86(2), 175–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, B. A. (2000). Embracing the essence of inquiry: New roles for science teachers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37(9), 916–937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, B. A. (2007). Learning to teach science as inquiry in the rough and tumble of practice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(4), 613–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, B. A., & Cullin, M. J. (2004). Supporting prospective teachers’ conceptions of modelling in science. International Journal of Science Education, 26(11), 1379–1401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, B. A., Krajcik, J. S., & Marx, R. W. (1999). Elements of a community of learners in a middle school science classroom. Science Education, 83(6), 701–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, B. A., Zembal-Saul, C., Munford, D., & Friedrichsen, P. (2005). Confronting prospective teachers’ ideas of evolution and scientific inquiry using technology and inquiry-based tasks. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(6), 613–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, B. A., Capps, D., Meyer, X., Ortenzi, D., & Ross, R. (2009, April 17–21). Closing the circle of authentic scientific research and inquiry-based pedagogy: Teachers, scientists, and science educators in a community of learners. A poster presented at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) 2009, Garden Grove, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver, R. (1989). The construction of scientific knowledge in school classrooms. In R. Millar (Ed.), Doing science: Images of science in science education (pp. 126–136). London: The Falmer Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Mortimer, E., & Scott, P. (1994). Constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom. Educational Researcher, 23(7), 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duschl, R. A., Schweingruber, H. A., & Shouse, A. (Eds.). (2007). Taking science to school: Learning and teaching science in grades K-8. Board on Science Education, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, J. J. (1991). Prospective and practicing secondary school science teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about the philosophy of science. Science Education, 75(1), 121–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodson, D. (1998). Is this really what scientists do? Seeking a more authentic science in and beyond the school laboratory. In J. Wellington (Ed.), Practical work in school science: Which way now? (pp. 93–108). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krajcik, J. S., Mamlok, R., & Hug, B. (2000). Modern content and the enterprise of science: Science education in the twentieth century. In L. Como (Ed.), Education across a century: The centennial volume. One-hundredth yearbook of the national society for the study of education (pp. 205–238). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lederman, N. G. (1992). Students and teachers conceptions about the nature of science: A review of the research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29(4), 331–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lederman, J. S., & Lederman, N. G. (2005). Developing and assessing elementary teachers’ and students’ understandings of nature of science and scientific inquiry. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Dallas, TX.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loucks-Horsley, S., Hewson, P. W., Love, N., & Stiles, K. E. (2003). Designing professional development for teachers of science and mathematics (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luft, J. A. (2001). Changing inquiry practices and beliefs: the impact of an inquiry-based professional development programme on beginning and experienced secondary science teachers. International Journal of Science Education, 23(5), 517–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millar, R. (1989). Bending the evidence: The relationship between theory and experiment in science education. In R. Millar (Ed.), Doing science: Images of science in science education (pp. 126–136). London: The Falmer Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council. (2000). Inquiry and the national science education standards: A guide for teaching and learning. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahm, J., Miller, H., Hartley, L., & Moore, J. C. (2003). The value of an emergent notion of authenticity: Examples from two student/teacher–scientist partnership programs. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(8), 737–756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosebery, A. S., Warren, B., & Conant, F. R. (1989). Cheche konnon: Science and literacy in language minority classrooms (BBN Technical Report No. 7305). Cambridge, MA: BBN Laboratories, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, W. M. (1995). Authentic school science: Knowing and learning in open-inquiry science laboratories. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, R., & Crawford, B. A. (2004). Authentic scientific inquiry as a context for teaching nature of science: Identifying critical elements for success. In L. Flick & N. Lederman (Eds.), Scientific inquiry and nature of science: Implications for teaching, learning, and teacher education (pp. 331–355). Dordrecht: Kluwer Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, R. S., Lederman, N. G., & Crawford, B. A. (2004). Developing views of nature of science in an authentic context: An explicit approach to bridging the gap between nature of science and scientific inquiry. Science Education, 88(4), 610–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scriber, & E Souberman Eds., and Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodruff, S. B., Morio, K. L., & Li, Y. (2011). Evaluation of fossil finders, using fossils to teach about evolution, inquiry, and nature of science: Annual report 2009–2010. Oxford: Miami University, Ohio’s Evaluation & Assessment Center for Mathematics and Science Education.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I would like to extend my thanks to Dr. Daniel K. Capps, Dr. Maya Patel, and Dr. Xenia Meyer for their collaboration and wonderful insights into data analyses and conclusions, to Dr. Robert Ross and Dr. Warren Allmon of the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY, for their continued collaboration, and to Dr. Sarah Woodruff of the Ohio’s Evaluation and Assessment Center for Mathematics and Science Education and Discovery Center at Miami University, USA, for analyzing evaluation data and student assessments.

This chapter is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF 733233. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this chapter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The National Science Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Science Education, The University of Georgia, 212 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA, 30606, USA

    Barbara A. Crawford

Authors
  1. Barbara A. Crawford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara A. Crawford .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Natural Sciences & Science Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Walk 1, Singapore, 637616, Singapore

    Kim Chwee Daniel Tan

  2. , Dept of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Victoria, Victoria, V8W 2Y2, British Columbia, Canada

    Mijung Kim

Appendix

Appendix

3.1.1 Lesson Description

This 5-day paleontological investigation engages students in authentic scientific inquiry. Through this investigation, there are many opportunities to discuss evolutionary, geological, and nature of science concepts. Students will learn about collecting, compiling, and interpreting data related to a population of fossils. After collecting the data, students will then enter their data into an online database and analyze and interpret the data they collected. The online database can also be used to share data with other classes and scientists and look for trends in the data beyond one’s own class.

3.1.1.1 An Excerpt of the Lesson

  • Say : We will be the first ones to collect this data. Nobody else has looked at these samples and knows what will be found! We will use this data to learn about science, share with scientists and other classes, and perhaps answer some questions of our own or questions posed by other classes.

  • Explain how to fill out each sheet.

  • For brachiopods and bivalves (sheets 1 and 2) students will measure in millimeters (mm’s) in the A direction and B direction indicated on the handouts and PowerPoint slides (see example below). They will also indicate the color of the fossil and fragmentation.

    figure a_3

  • For all other organisms (sheets 3 and 4) the students need to first record what type of fossil they are measuring. Next they will measure length, width, color and fragmentation (see examples on the PowerPoint).

3.1.2 Data Analysis

3.1.2.1 Explain

The explanation portion of the investigation should take about 1–2 class periods but could take more if your students are engaged. The class should have already entered their data into the database. Elementary grades should focus on producing graphs from the first two data plots: Relative Abundance of Organism within a Sample and Distribution of Organism Sizes .

Within a sample of the database; however, feel free to use the other graphs as well. At the end of this section, elementary students will have recreated what proportions of different kinds of organisms would have lived in the Devonian Sea in the area they were studying. From this, they can begin to infer what the sea may have looked like based on the data they collected from their fossils.

(Relative Abundance of Organisms within a Sample) – If students have access to computers (or if there is a projector in the classroom), ask students to click on View Reports and create a graph showing relative abundance using the database. Have students use the graph they produce to consider how the data they collected gives clues to what the area was like nearly 400 million years ago? Students should select their sample from the drop-down list and click the graph button in the bottom-right hand corner of the box. Based on what they found in the rocks, what do they think the area where their rocks formed looked like during the Devonian Period (360 and 415 million of years ago)? What might it have been like if they snorkeled through the area? What would the Devonian Sea have looked like ∼400 million years ago? How do they know?

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Crawford, B.A. (2012). Moving the Essence of Inquiry into the Classroom: Engaging Teachers and Students in Authentic Science. In: Tan, K., Kim, M. (eds) Issues and Challenges in Science Education Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3980-2_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation