Moving from structured to open inquiry: Challenges and limits

383 Science Education International , , December 2012, 383-399 Moving from structured to open inquiry : Challenges and limits Michal Zion*, Ruthy Mendelovici Bar-Ilan University, Israel Abstract The article provides science educators with definitions of inquiry and its levels, relating them to real-world scientific processes. Such an educational shift entails a fundamental cultural change in the epistemology of science learning in schools, shifting it from instructionism to social constructivist learning. The highest level of inquiry , open inquiry , simulates and reflects the type of research and experimental work that is performed by scientists, and demands high-order thinking capabilities ( , questioning, designing an experimental array, critical and logical thinking, reflection).

Michal Zion, Ruthy Mendelovici 384 In structured inquiry, the students investigate a teacher-presented question through a prescribed procedure, and receive explicit step-by-step guidelines at each stage, leading to a predetermined outcome, similar to following a recipe.

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  Open, Teacher, Inquiry, Open inquiry

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