A universal explorer: A powerful approch; Inquiry Based learning!

Teaching science is a process that involves concepts, issues, ideas, and of course time. The most important aspect of teaching is how do we give the best education possible to students keeping all of that in mind. "Inquiry-based science can be a powerful approach to learning scientific concepts and keeping wonder and curiosity alive in the classroom" (Ranklin, 2011. pg 9). It is this type of teaching method that provides students with one of the most meaningful experiences they can have in the classroom. Allowing them to take ownership in the process builds their curiosity and most important there understanding in the world of science. However, even though this is one of the most powerful tools a teacher has there are obstacles that can hinder this method.

Inquiry falls into many of these categories, making it a strong approach to teaching science.

Inquiry learning goes hand in hand with every beings innate urge to explore and understand the world around them. It is this urge that fuels some scientists to pursue research in their field, but how do we use this desire in our own classrooms to get our students to want to discover and learn. Unfortunately in every classroom teachers are given only a small allotted time to teach specific subject, trying to implement inquiry based learning and staying within the specified time is not an easy task. When students are making discoveries and learning at the same time you do not want to stop them, so teachers must do their best to make it a meaningful experience and of course consider time.

Inquiry does take a substantial amount of time, however the students can learn how to carry out many procedures within science. How to question. How to work as a team. How to problem solve. And in the world one of the biggest tool is how to integrate technology.

The process of carrying out inquiry based learning is something that must be taught in the classroom. Even though we are born inquires, we do not have the natural ability to carry out investigations properly (Rankin, 2011). To really use inquiry based learning to its fullest potential teacher must build the students ability to carry out process skills that go along with any investigation. These process skills are things such as observing, questioning, hypothesizing, and evaluating. To teach these steps the teacher can build the skills over a period of time, first having them observe something and write down every single thing they saw. Building these skills are the crucial foundation, that will follow them throughout their lives. These process skills also allows the student to take ownership of their research which makes the process far more meaningful and more educational. Among the process skills building a question for research is very important, how do we as teachers initiate these questions. We do sometimes want the students to come up with their own questions, however we may need to direct and guide their questioning and discoveries based on specific concepts being investigated. This draws a fine line between how much freedom we provide our students and how big of a role we play in their investigations. "Nurturing the growth or all the process skills throughout the school year is essential if we want students to learn to reason scientifically, develop claims backed by evidence, and explain their findings" (Rankin, 2011. pg 9).

Nurture their investigation and give the students they are curious about so they want to make discoveries.

Inquiry based learning is not the only way to teach science, depending on the lesson at hand, the tool or instructional approach to teaching a lesson will fluctuate. Whichever approach deemed appropriate still must keep the students in mind. Educators must keep their students intellectual development at the for front of any activity, so we can prepare them to be successful in this increasingly growing complex world (Rankin, 2011).

Given many different articles to chose from, "science and children" was the one that popped out at me immediately. I am going into education for the children, and to do everything in my power to give them the best education possible to prepare them for the world ahead. Teaching science comes down to how meaningful can you make the experience for the children. Children will learn more and understand more if it is meaningful to them, and they are curious about the activity at hand. Being an educator I need to find the best and most productive ways to do this for my students, so that they understand and may even love science. Science should be looked at as exciting and a world of opportunity, not just formulas and lab coats. Therefore how can I not use this article in my own classroom. I have learned so much about building science from the ground up, teaching the process skills in a way that interests the students. Once they have built all of these abilities they can really make their own discoveries and learn through doing and investigating. If a teacher tells a student "when air heats up it expands" this hold no meaning to the child. Showing them a balloon fill up because of air expanding from heat will build curiosity. It is that curiosity that will drive students to find out the air is expanding and they are more likely to remember the experience.

Teaching science in a increasingly complex world is not an easy task, but if we can make every experience meaningful for students we can build their understanding. Inquiry based learning really is the heart of making discoveries and learning new things in the realm of science. As educators we must open the eyes of students and allow them to wonder and discover the world around them. With these discoveries students will learn and be able to comprehend concepts, rather than simply memorizing them for a test.