I spent the last week in Maui (poor me) at a workshop for science and engineering educators. Most of the participants were STEM graduate students or post-docs from UCSC or University of Hawaii, but with a little bit of astrophysics research experience under my belt I fit right in, despite my newly minted social scientist identity.
The workshop focused on "inquiry," a word abused by curriculum developers, politicians and school organizations alike. Inquiry is often confused with descriptives like "hands-on," or "using the scientific method," or described as some kind of unstructured free play. Barry Kluger-Bell, drawing on his experience with the Institute for Inquiry at the Exploratorium in San Fransisco, led us in an inquiry about light and shadow that was illuminating even to participants with PhDs in physics. My group presented our discoveries to the group on the poster to the left.The Exploratorium's Institute for Inquiry, where my advisor Doris Ash spent many years, has developed the following description of a "true" inquiry activity:
"an approach to learning that involves a process of exploring the natural or material world, and that leads to asking questions, making discoveries, and testing those discoveries in the search for new understanding."
