Inquiries in Science®

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Inquiries in Science® is a series of kit-based lab activities for high school students, designed to actively engage them in learning essential science concepts through a guided-inquiry approach. Designed around the learning cycle of engage-explore-explain-extend-evaluate, each kit contains the necessary equipment and supplies for at least 30 students to perform the lab activities. Every kit also includes a comprehensive teacher’s manual with a reproducible student guide. Using the Inquiries in Science®: Discovering Nucleic Acids Kit as an example, we’ll show you how the kits implement the learning cycle through a guided-inquiry approach.

During the Engage activity, the teacher helps students consider their prior knowledge about a topic and relate that knowledge to questions or problems in the context of a real-world scenario. In the Discovering Nucleic Acids Kit, the Engage activity helps students to identify and model the steps of protein synthesis and to build an understanding of the effects of mutagens on organisms and their DNA. The teacher begins by reviewing a reading selection with the class and initiates a discussion about how mutations and mutation-causing factors are a part of our everyday lives. Here’s a sample paragraph from the kit’s Engage section.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material in all living cells. DNA is arranged in the form of a double helix, which resembles a twisted ladder, with 2 complementary strands made up of nucleotide bases, sugars, and phosphates. The nucleotide bases found in DNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). The bases follow the base pairing rules, referred to as Chargaff's Rules, discovered by DNA pioneers James Watson and Francis Crick: adenine and thymine always pair together, and guanine and cytosine always pair together.

In Explore, students gain hands-on experience relevant to the question or problem at hand. Using a guided-inquiry approach, the teacher leads students through investigations and models the scientific process. The Explore section of the Discovering Nucleic Acids Kit includes the 3 activities listed below.

In Explain, students develop and fine-tune their grasp of scientific concepts by analyzing, interpreting, and communicating data. The teacher acts as a facilitator and advisor, guiding students in their development and helping them confront misconceptions. Use the Explain section of the student guide as it best works for your class. You may read it together as a class or have students read it on their own. It can be assigned as a post-activity reading selection or as homework. Higher-level students might be able to answer the questions in the Extend section without reading the selection.

During the Extend activity, students demonstrate their mastery of the concepts they have studied by applying what they have learned in the context of the original real-world question or problem. The teacher observes, assesses, and directs students’ progress toward the desired learning goals. Below are some example questions from the Extend section of the Discovering Nucleic Acids Kit student guide.

This is an ongoing, integral part of the learning cycle. During the Engage activity, the teacher can evaluate where the students are in their understanding of the topic and assess the misconceptions that students bring with them.

During the Explore activity, the teacher evaluates students’ understanding by observing their progress with the hands-on investigation(s) and their interactions with teammates.

Evaluation takes place during the Explain activity as the teacher looks for students’ understanding of the topic through their answers to critical-thinking questions and their analysis of the data gathered during the Explore stage. This helps the teacher know if the students are ready to apply knowledge of the topic during the Extend stage.

Finally, evaluation at the Extend stage generally takes the form of a performance assessment of the design and/or completion of additional investigations, or the application of science concepts to another situation.

We hope you’ve gained a better understanding of the Inquiries in Science® learning cycle and how you can put it to work in your classroom. To learn more about the Discovering Nucleic Acids Kit and other kits in the Inquiries in Science® series, visit us at www.carolina.com/Inquiries or contact Melissa Hodges at 800.334.5551, ext. 6355.