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Inquiry: The Key to Improving Science Education

July 1995

Robert F. Tinker
President, The Concord Consortium, Inc.

I believe that the worst thing that has happened to science education is that the great fun has gone out of it...Very few see science as the high adventure it really is, the wildest of all explorations ever taken by human beings, the chance to catch close views of things never seen before, the shrewdest maneuver for discovering how the world works. (Lewis Thomas, 1981)

The new science standards are absolutely clear about the central importance of real science. The AAAS Benchmarks put student inquiry first and state that students should be able to "frame the question, design the approach, estimate the time and costs involved, calibrate the instruments, conduct trial runs, write a report, and finally, respond to criticism." Fully two-thirds of the benchmarks are related to the skills students need to undertake and understand their original investigations and design projects and only one-third contain traditional science math, and technology content such as energy conservation, plate tectonics, and evolution. By place of honor and sheer number, the AAAS has elevated student ability to do science to the primary goal of science education. Similarly, the NRC Science Standards says:

Students at all grade levels and in every domain of science should have the opportunity to use scientific inquiry and develop the ability to think and act in ways associated with the processes of inquiry, including asking questions, planning and conducting an investigation, using appropriate tools and techniques, thinking critically and logically about the relationships between evidence and explanations, constructing and analyzing alternative explanations, and communicating scientific arguments. (NRC Nov. 1994 draft, V- 4)

To achieve these goals, science education must be re-oriented. Inquiry is not just an important new topic like DNA, it must become the "basic and controlling principle in the ultimate organization of ... science education." (NRC Nov. 1994 draft, V-3 ) This is a daunting challenge that requires the re-conceptualization of science education and changes in every part, including how teachers are prepared and rewarded, what constitutes quality curriculum, and how schools are organized.

The science that the NRC and the AAAS describe is foreign to most teachers and students. Very few teachers at any precollege level have experienced research and fewer still have any support for integrating student inquiry into the crowded curriculum. Few of the education school faculty preparing the next generation of teachers understand or have experienced real science, nor have the educational reformers or the providers of in-service "training" for current teachers. If the Nation is to achieve the new science standards, we must implment a coordinated and extensive set of radical policies along the following lines:

Recognize and organize teachers supporting extended inquiry. An unsung minority of perhaps 1% of teachers are successfully supporting extended student inquiry. These pioneering teachers need to be recognized, their successes documented, and their techniques replicated.

Develop curricula that support extended inquiry. Scientific inquiry requires skills, experiences, and attitudes that can be taught. However, few published curricula address this and few are under development.

Expand teacher research opportunities and relate these to teaching. The numbers of teachers who work in research labs, Earthwatch expeditions, and the like, need to be greatly expanded and then supported by new programs that convert their research experience from simply a good background exposure into classroom activities and ongoing student inquiry.

Support school-based scientific research. Schools can generate data of scientific interest while teaching important research concepts. This nice convergence of the self-interests of scientists and educators has been developed in handful of projects such as GLOBE that need to be greatly expanded.

Fund pre-college teacher/researchers. Every high school should have its most-revered science teacher participating in on-going, school-based research, preferably of a kind that meaningfully engages precollege students. This would place in schools role-models for teachers and students while clearly demonstrating that research as the ultimate goal of science education.

Create a new class of in-service programs. Every in-service program should feature opportunities for teachers to engage in extended investigations of the kind appropriate for their students. These experiences should be augmented with opportunities to convert these experiences into classroom activities.

Use Netcourses. Network-based courses provide an opportunity for expanding the quality of in-service support at dramatically reduced cost. They can provide on-going support to teachers from the best faculty in the world.

Infusion of technological tools. Technology, in the form of instrumentation, computers, and networking must be infused throughout the curriculum.

Re-define teacher preparation around inquiry. Every new teacher should have had opportunities for extended scientific inquiry that exceeds the standards that apply to their intended students. In addition, they should have studied and practiced translating those experiences into effective student inquiry.

Reward science education service in academe. The scientific community must join with educators to revolutionize science education because the educational community has very limited human resources to undertake the fundamental change that is required. This will be happen only when the system of professional rewards recognizes educational service as important.

Space does not permit a full exposition of these ideas, but the author welcomes a further discussion through email .

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