Inquiry-based teaching, central to the National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy, is a comprehensive and ongoing approach. However, many teachers hesitate to teach science through inquiry because they did not learn this way themselves. This workshop shows inquiry teaching and learning in action, with real teachers and students in real classrooms. Whether you have already experimented with inquiry teaching and want to enhance your practice, or are new to the approach and want to know how to make it work, this workshop will help you understand the process and how it benefits students.

1. What Is Inquiry and Why Do It?

2. Setting the Stage: Creating a Learning Community

3. The Process Begins: Launching the Inquiry Exploration

4. Focus the Inquiry: Designing the Exploration

5. The Inquiry Continues: Collecting Data and Drawing Upon Resources

6. Bring It All Together: Processing for Meaning During Inquiry

7. Assessing Inquiry

8. Connecting Other Subjects to Inquiry