Created in response to widespread interest in inquiry-based science instruction, the Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry provides workshops, programs, on-line support, and an intellectual community for inquiry learning. This website includes many resources for teachers interested in inquiry-based teaching. There is a linked list of articles, a bibliography of resources, example classroom exercises ... Full description.

This is the online version of the book "Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning." Published by the National Academies Press, the book is presented complete with text and images, is browseable in a variety of ways, and has a PDF version for easy printing. A hardcopy version is also available for purchase from the site. Full description.

This semester-long course is designed to introduce science undergraduates to ocean and climate related processes that can be used to teach general physical concepts (e.g. density, buoyancy, pressure, heat and temperature, waves), using a variety of hands-on activities. Students will be introduced to pedagogical methods that will give them the tools to communicate their science knowledge to broader ... Full description.

This rubric is for teachers who are selecting inquiry-based science activities for their classes. It includes a comprehensive checklist for assessing instructional materials. This resource is intended for use in the classroom by K-12 teachers. Full description.

Disconnection between students and nature in an urban setting thwarts student engagement and impedes geoscience teaching and learning. Conducting field trips is one way to engage students, but the urban environment does not provide an ideal setting with respect to the availability of appropriate field sites and safety. This text reports on a field-based inquiry project conducted in San Antonio, Texas. ... Full description.

Undergraduate science instructors are concerned that the traditional lecture centered approach may not be the most effective. This article describes an effort to integrate alternative teaching methods into a small, upper-division course that had previously been taught as a lecture course, and thus impart a current understanding of biogeography to the students. A course on biogeography with a focus ... Full description.

NOTE: This is a large file, 15.5mb in size! A primary obstacle to urban precollege geoscience education is limited access to inquiry-based geoscience experiences that are engaging and relevant to students' lives. Opportunities are reduced by the common misconception that the geosciences are less relevant to urban audiences and by the financial limitations of many urban school districts. This paper ... Full description.

In 2000, the Cornell University Department of Natural Resources embarked on a new program, 4-H Environmental Inquiry (4-H EI). The goal of the program was to build the capacity of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) educators to play a key role in science education reform in their communities, through providing opportunities for youth to engage in authentic, open-ended research. The purpose of this ... Full description.

In this activity students will work with ice in order to gain a practical application of math concepts. It will evolve into an inquiry-based study to determine if the dimensions of the ice will make a difference in the way the ice floats in the water. The inquiry lesson may lead to further inquiry-based investigations for extended learning in the classroom or home. Full description.

The exercises presented in this paper are part of a "minds on" rather than a "hands on" approach. They are intended to complement "hands on" activities and introduce students to another aspect of scientific inquiry. The exercises require students to analyze large sets of real data, to evaluate the data critically, to observe patterns and anomalies, to make inferences and predictions based on the data, ... Full description.