In trying to answer these questions, schools take a huge step towards changing their mathematics and science classrooms. As Nancy Love states in her article "Data-Driven Curriculum Reform" on page 1, "defining a desired practice is important both for building teachers’ understanding and commitment to the change and for assessing progress."

The questions are not simple and educators have many perspectives on inquiry and how it plays out in the classroom. The Alliance has gathered together a small sampling of statements about inquiry and hopes that these quotes will add to the discussions happening in schools.

From the National Science Education Standards…

"Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science." p. 31.

"Scientific inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work. Inquiry also refers to the activities of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world." p. 23.

From researchers and teachers attending the 1996 Inquiry Forum…

"For me, inquiry is a way of being in the world. It is a stance about one's relationship to the world, to people, to one's work, to knowledge. When I am able to take it on, inquiry enables me to ask, "What do I think this means?," before making assumptions about meaning…it is important for me to note that most of the time I find myself not adopting an inquiring perspective toward the world. I find, for example, that I charge headlong into a situation…thinking that I know the why or the where or the what.…On good days, someone or something in the situation will reach out, upend my sense of certainty, and force me to slow down, to retrace the tracks of my own assumptions, and listen again to what is being said. For me, inquiry represents the unending struggle to recognize what I don’t know."

Ann Rosebery, Project Co-Director, Chèche Konnen Center, TERC, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"For me as a scientist, inquiry is defined by a series of features: Scientific inquiry is personally driven… is concerned with content as well as process…is as much about asking good questions as getting good answers…occurs within an existing framework of previous knowledge…is concerned with gathering evidence…[and] is developed in scientists through an individual and group mentoring process over a considerable length of time.…

The practice of inquiry is a way of thinking, of processing, of operating in the world. For me, what is key is having an initial curiosity about something and a framework to ask questions. This need for a personal interest in what is being examined is why inquiry cannot be taught as a process skill only irrespective of the topic of study."

Rob Semper, Associate Executive Director, Exploratorium, San Francisco, California.

"Science inquiry consists of actions in the world that allow for multiple results. Any activity that is intended to lead to one result only (or in which the manipulation of the world is such that possible alternative lines of experimentation are prohibited) should not be labeled as inquiry. The definition excludes almost all school laboratory work, since that usually is intended to demonstrate a concept, not generate novel or diverse activity."

George E. Hein, Director, Program Evaluation & Research Group, Lesley College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

From Clifford H. Edwards in Science Teacher…

"To have bona fide inquiry experiences, students must formulate their own questions, create hypotheses, and design investigations that test the hypotheses and answer the questions proposed. Published materials are generally too structured to provide the necessary freedom for students to engage in these important inquiry skills. However, to meet the expectations of the science standards, students need an opportunity to do self-directed inquiry learning that takes their curiosity and interest into account."

"Promoting Student Inquiry," Science Teacher, 1997, Volume 64, Number 7, pp. 18-21.

From Peter Medawar…

"The purpose of scientific enquiry is not to compile an inventory of factual information…We should think of it rather as a logically articulated structure of justifiable beliefs about nature. It begins as a story about a Possible World–a story which we invent and criticize and modify as we go along, so that it ends by being, as nearly as we can make it, a story about real life."

Pluto’s Republic, 1982, Oxford University Press.