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Scientific Inquiry in the Secondary Classroom

What is scientific inquiry?

Why is it essential to science teaching and learning?

How do we engage learners in meaningful inquiry that promotes deep conceptual understandings?

How do we know what students have learned about science and inquiry?

What should scientific inquiry look like in the secondary classroom?

These are some of the core questions we will explore in this institute. This year-long institute is being delivered through a five-day, face-to-face workshop experience in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and an asynchronous, online course that runs through May 2009.

BSCS Science Institutes

The Institute begins with an online activity and discussion that engages all participants. This introductory discussion initiates the online community and provides a platform from which to jump into the summer program. The five-day summer program provides an intense experience in scientific inquiry and examines what inquiry looks like in secondary classrooms.

Participants explore scientific inquiry first-hand as they develop scientific explanations and consider how inquiry-based learning promotes understanding of the nature of science and of important scientific concepts. Participants then elaborate on the role of inquiry in student learning and develop foundational understandings to engage their students. The institute includes examples of inquiry from biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics.

The twelve-month online component consists of regular communication between workshop participants and BSCS faculty through which participants share experiences, deepen understanding about current applicable educational and cognitive research, and develop an online professional learning community to support effective change in the local educational setting. Participants in the Inquiry Institute will complete monthly assignments to examine student work, reflect on teaching practices, consider conceptual cohesiveness of their lesson plans, and more.

This institute includes the following:

12-month online asynchronous professional development course (up to 55 hours of course work)
5-day residential professional development program at BSCS headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado (50 hours of PD) [July 14 - 18, 2008]
online professional learning community infrastructure
welcome reception, 5 breakfasts (for hotel guests), 5 lunches, and 2 dinners
transportation between workshop location and hotel
binder of all documents and presentations
print and electronic resource materials for use in participants' classroom
Certificate of Completion
graduate credits are available through Colorado State University for additional fees.

Scientific Inquiry: Secondary | Scientific Inquiry: Elementary | Evolution: Earth & Life
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For additional information on the Institute, please contact Dr. Sam Spiegel at sspiegel@bscs.org.

For registration or logistical information, please contact Aleigh Raffelson at araffelson@bscs.org or by phone at 719.219.4119.