Teaching Inquiry-Based Chemistry: Creating Student-Led Scientific Communities

by Joan A. Gallagher-Bolos

In their professional dreams, chemistry teachers imagine eager and self-sufficient students whose curiosity motivates their scientific explorations. Joan Gallagher-Bolos and Dennis Smithenry have realized this vision in their chemistry classrooms, and in Teaching Inquiry-Based Chemistry , they demonstrate how you can make student-led inquiry happen in yours. Teaching Inquiry-Based Chemistry retraces an entire year's curriculum to show you how the authors weave constructivist theory into every lesson without sacrificing content. You will discover how slowly increasing the complexity of projects while gradually shifting the responsibility for learning to class members builds success upon success until students are ready to formulate and execute a three-week, end-of-year project where they function as a fully independent scientific community. Plus Teaching Inquiry-Based Chemistry is loaded with features that help you implement student-centered teaching immediately, Get ready to make your ideal classroom a reality and find a fresh way of teaching the chemistry you know so well. Read Teaching Inquiry-Based Chemistry and discover how helping your students capitalize on their innate scientific curiosity will lead you to new levels of professional and personal satisfaction.

Genres: Science

136 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2004

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun read! In this book, an experienced chemistry teacher demonstrates how to run a classroom in an inquiry-based way. Emphasis is put on core classroom expectations that must be built at the beginning of the year, how independence is slowly practiced until its earned, and gives multiple examples of how basic labs (like crushing cans using hot and cold water) can be changed into multi-day projects (roleplaying working for the Coca-Cola agency to find the best protocol for crushing cans using this method).

The author has a wild sense of humor, roleplaying as substitute teachers and OSHA inspectors, but all to teach the students to collaborate and not rely on the teacher for answers. For those interested in the history of science education, this book references the first science standards (NSES 1996), showing us how long inquiry-based methods have been pushed. It's sad to see how little progress has been made in implementing them in the years since.

However, just from my experience being a teacher, I have to wonder how much of it was true and how much was exaggerated. Still, I think this is a nice, short book that will get you thinking about ideas for implementing inquiry-based methods in your classroom.

[Jeffrey W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The repeated reference to students bringing in food for the teacher as a "bonus" was pretty tacky and bizarre. Otherwise, a useful glimpse into how student-driven classroom practices can be implemented--with reassurance that meaningful results can be delivered.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I aspire to teach this way.