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Scientific Inquiry and the Nature of Science Students
Barbara Rascoe
State University at Buffalo
Scientific inquiry may be the proverbial equivalent to a prescribed canon that shapes the culture of science learning and science teaching. Given that science as inquiry may, at times, be ill-defined and illusive in science teaching, the idea is that science teachers and science students use the processes of science, scientific knowledge, and attitudes to reason and think critically (Martin, Sexton, & Gerlovich, 2001). Scientific inquiry is used to facilitate students’ understandings of scientific concepts in that students ask questions, conduct scientific investigations, evaluate evidence, and construct explanations regarding natural phenomena (National Research Council, 1996).
Scientific inquiry involves much of what science teachers do as they facilitate science instruction for their science students. Effective scientific inquiry immerses science students into the culture of science and is one component of the nature of science. The nature of science also includes scientific worldviews and the nature of the science enterprise (Lederman, 1998). The essence of science as it relates to scientific literacy embodies what science is, what science is not, the many methods of science, science as a body of knowledge, the language of science, and science as a way of thinking (Rascoe, Chun, Kemp, Jackson, Li, Oliver, Tippins, Nichols, & Radcliffe, 1999). Science teachers effective in science instruction address the needs of science students who find that crossing borders is neither manageable, nor smooth.
Approximate Word count = 1116
Approximate Pages = 4.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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