Inquiry

According to the National Science Standards (NRC, 1996), inquiry is a multifaceted activity that involves making observations; posing questions; examining books and other sources of information to see what is already known; planning investigations; reviewing what is already known in light of experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data; proposing the results. Inquiry requires identification of assumptions, use of critical and logical thinking, and considerations of alternative explanations. (p. 23)

 In classroom practice, inquiry can take many forms, ranging from library research on a topic to open-ended investigations of phenomena.

 Inquiry can also range from pure discovery to guided discovery to expository methods.

 From page 16 of the Campbell et al. article titled Development of Instruments to Assess Teacher and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Experiences in Science Classrooms. Originally by Johnston in 2008,

 "…the process of inquiry is not simply something that we use to get learners to understand buoyancy. It is a scientific endeavor in itself, allowing students to be themselves within a culture of scientific inquiry…The processes embraced by science that allow us to extract explanation from evidence are paramount to a citizen’s understanding of science. (p. 12)"