The Importance Of Scientific Inquiry

Section 1- Description of investigation

1. (a) What you did. Describe the aim of the investigation and the method.

Aim:

Our investigation was to observe the changes to different pieces of bread by exposing them to a range of varied conditions; the aim was to find out in what environment would the mould grow the quickest. In order to achieve, we left three slices of bread in different environments and condiments on them and recorded our observations over a period of 3 weeks.

Method:

1. Firstly we collected three slices of the same branded bread.

2. Decided on three different environments and conditions for the bread to be in. First environment we choose was to leave the bread in sunlight. Second environment we choose was to leave the bread

In many investigations there is a lot of time spent gathering ideas and information from relevant sources than spending it on the practical element of the investigation. (Chiappetta, 1997, p. 26).

For students to be involved in inquiry based learning science teachers have to help them obtain the information from different sources during the process so students stay on track. Gathering information is an important learning aspect of inquiry, as students need to read about a topic and apply this knowledge to their investigation. (Chiappetta, 1997).

Within inquiry-based learning students should not forget about problem solving as it has “the potential to engage students in authentic investigations and develop their inquiry skills”. Problem solving can also make more learning more meaningful and relevant for children as they are more engaged in the process. “Inquiry and problem solving are associated with the nature of scientific inquiry as well as instructional methodology” (Chiappetta, 1997, pg. 26).

The term inquiry also refers to three different categories of

(5) Learner’s communicate and justify their proposed explanations. (NRC, 2000, p. 25)

There is more validity regarding what students should learn about scientific inquiry than how teachers should instruct students (Anderson, 2007).

2. (b) Justify how you would incorporate your investigation into a science unit based on the 5Es in a primary school context.

The way in which I would incorporate my investigation into a science unit based on the 5Es in a primary school context is first I would engage the students and ask them if they know anything about mold and how it grows, I would look up different experiments with mold so the students can get an understanding of how it grows. The children would then be able to use whichever variable such as bread they like and then change the physical conditions around it such as the dark, sun. The children would then explain what they have observed and use scientific terms where needed to describe the results. After this they would then elaborate by extending their knowledge further, then they would have to evaluate their learning and how the investigation could have been