18th Annual Student Research Conference
Education
Science, Discover It For Yourself: Inquiry Labs as an Alternative Teaching Tool
Meredith K. Venable
Dr. John Hoffmann, Faculty Mentor
In the realm of secondary education, science is perceived as the hardest class. Anticipating science class brings feelings of dread to many students. But, what if this dreaded subject could be fun, student directed, and produce academic confidence and success? National Science Education Standards recommend inquiry. Discovery based learning has come back into the educational spectrum as a way to engage students, capturing their interest as well as their intellect, with inquiry labs as the forerunner for chemistry. Differing greatly from ordinary cookbook labs which rarely produce the desired results of understanding and comprehension, inquiry labs have many variables that will provoke stimulating class discussions. The research done so far, is a preliminary study that will hopefully give rise to a larger, better organized study. This could be the catalyst to improved teaching methods as well as higher levels of subject retention in the science curriculum.
Keywords: Inquiry Lab, Science Education, chemistry education, cookbook labs
Topic(s):Chemistry
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 14-4
Location: OP 2113
Time: 10:30