Foundations of Inquiry

Catalog description

This course engages students in exploring the foundations of inquiry-based teaching and learning while students gain a new familiarity with Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) Master Institution (MI) facilities as informal science education settings. Through making observations on zoo grounds, developing comparative questions, devising investigations to answer those questions and communicating results, participants will experience the full process of inquiry and will learn how to guide this process with their own students and in their own communities. This type of firsthand, experiential learning encourages independent and critical thing, increasing the communities' awareness and concern for the local environment and its inhabitants. We will engage in activities that demonstrate the applications of inquiry in the classroom, on zoo grounds, in the schoolyard and other settings. Through this course, students will develop the investigation, critical reflection, and collaboration skills needed to lead inquiry-driven learning for diverse communities. This is a hybrid course with interaction on-site and in Dragonfly's web-based learning community.