SCIENCE AS AN INQUIRY-EST 333

 What is Inquiry-Based Science?

Science has often been recognized as a complex subject because most science educators ignore instructions on the nature of science which we learned last week. To succeed in teaching and understanding science, students have been encouraged to participate in scientific inquiry which involves a student-centered instructional paradigm rather than teacher-centered instructional strategies such as recitation and memorizing facts and terminologies. Inquiry-based science lesson allows students “to conduct investigation in inquiry and to view science itself as a process of inquiry” (Bodzin & Karen 40). During this process of investigation, students learn skills such as observation, experimentation, and inference. Inquiry teaching also involves combining scientific processes and scientific knowledge with scientific reasoning with the support of critical thinking. The purpose of engaging students in scientific inquiry is to help them understand scientific concepts, and the nature of science and help them develop skills, abilities, and attitudes to become independent inquirers.

One of the inquiry-based science lessons I found interesting learning about floating ice. Remember, ice is liquid water at zero degrees Celsius, but the big question is, what is the science behind floating ice? This lesson requires students to understand that ice is solid water and appears in solid form because of chemical bonds. Covalent and hydrogen bonds hold the water molecules together. To understand how ice becomes less dense than liquid water after it freezes, students need to come up with ways of describing this property of water in action. Let them pour water in a transparent glass then place it in the freezer. After the water freezes, compare the volume of solid ice formed with the liquid. This practical experience will involve putting the ice water in the same glass and drawing a line of water level before the ice starts melting. Observe the ice as it melts compare the new volume of water and make another line of the new water level. Students should compare the observations they made. This experiment allows students to learn the importance of floating ice to the Earth’s ecosystem. Ice layers usually keep fish along with other aquatic organisms warm in lakes and ponds, especially in the winter season. The frozen layers insulate water beneath and hold enough heat by preventing it from escaping into space. The frozen layers in the sea also trap oxygen which supports marine life and makes aquatic organisms live comfortably year after year.

Floating ice is a good example of an inquiry-based science lesson and I also discovered some levels of Bloom’s taxonomy were applied to make students understand. Before starting the lesson, students were reminded that ice is liquid water in solid form. To become ice the liquid needs to pass through a certain temperature of zero degrees Celsius that makes it freeze. To be in solid form, students were to understand that liquid water turns into ice because of chemical bonds. In the sense that, water molecules are held together by covalent and hydrogen bonds. To understand how ice floats on water the lesson took students through analyzing the volume of ice before and after melting point. This analysis helped students learn the importance of floating ice to the Earth’s ecosystem. One application of floating ice layers is how fish along with other aquatic organisms stay warm in lakes and ponds, especially in the winter season. It was also assessed and found that frozen layers in the sea also trap oxygen which supports marine life and makes aquatic organisms. This lesson allowed students to investigate what makes ice float but I think it would be enhanced through connecting it to Math. Students were to use math formulas to calculate the volume of the ice before and after the melting point. Maybe the students would create a new melting point of ice. In general, each level of Bloom’s taxonomy was applied to this lesson except the creating.  

Works Cited

Bodzin, Alec M., and Karen M. Beerer. “Promoting inquiry-based science instruction: The validation of the Science Teacher Inquiry Rubric (STIR).” Journal of Elementary Science Education 15.2 (2003): 39-49.