Even in Inquiry - Practice Makes Perfect

This article provides an outline for structuring effective professional development for early elementary science instructors. Teachers of students in kindergarten through second grade explor... See More

This article provides an outline for structuring effective professional development for early elementary science instructors. Teachers of students in kindergarten through second grade explore and investigate slopes and inclines. As the author demonstrates, quality science instruction takes place when teachers are actively structuring and guiding their students’ learning experiences via exploring meaningful scientific problems. Teachers must not only master the science concepts they are teaching, they also need to know how to create purposeful inquiries. Having firsthand experiences allows teachers to pass on inquiry in a more meaningful way, because they have inquired first. The author purports that teachers need to be taught how to experiment before they can become “experi-mentors”. This is a must-read article for preservice instructors. It supports the notion that in order for an elementary teacher to be an effective facilitator of inquiry science teaching methods, he/she must first have personal experiences in doing inquiry lessons.