Inquiry-based Learning

Children learn many things from their parents and environment. When questioned how they know something to be a fact, they may not know where the information comes from. This article does a... See More

Children learn many things from their parents and environment. When questioned how they know something to be a fact, they may not know where the information comes from. This article does an excellent job of explaining how we should foster science inquiry instead of just answering a child’s question even if we already know the answer. The point is to learn by doing (i.e. inquiry-based learning). The author of the article used various sized small toy cars, ramps, weights and a fixed pulley for students to manipulate, make predictions, and test their hypothesis on like real world scientists do while researching. This self-paced, hands-on activity involved a sequence of explorations that illustrates how scientific methods of investigation help us to learn about the world and explain how we know what we know. This article is beneficial to teachers because it gives a simple, fun, basic physics lesson for elementary students. I would recommend this article and activity to not just elementary teacher, but also to middle school teachers. And with a few modifications, such as accompanying worksheets, I believe it could be applied to high school as well.

Extremely helpful!

I am doing a research project on constructivism in science, and this article contains a plethora of information on why and how to implement contructivist methods. An invaluable resource for ... See More

I am doing a research project on constructivism in science, and this article contains a plethora of information on why and how to implement contructivist methods. An invaluable resource for those wanting to learn more about how to approach the implementation of constructivism in their own classrooms!