Defining Inquiry Skills

Defining Inquiry Skills

Observing is the ability to see and note the results of an experiment, the results expected and the unexpected results in an Inquiry. The senses and tools beyond thoughts used in collecting information. With this ability, we can see the changes occurring that triggers our curiosity in trying to understand certain things in Science.

Classifying is the process of grouping, putting together scientific findings with similar properties. It helps narrow down on the process of trying to understand scientific knowledge and explanations during the inquiry. It enhances the understanding of the structure and functions of different things by observing the properties and relationship among them.

Inferring is the ability to come up with a conclusion based on the explainable finding during an Inquiry. It is the ability to conclude well-explained observations. It is also the use of know-how to bridge in the gaps in the observation.

Measuring refers to the ability to accurately denote or quantify variables with the aid of instruments or non-standard units. It is basing on the processes that allow observation and comparisons thus enhancing descriptions, thereby improving the quality of predictions and explanations of natural phenomena.

Communicating is the ability to record and present observations and relevant information to other people. Once a data has been obtained and recorded, another step is how to pass it over to others. It is achieved in either oral discourse or through the written medium such as journals. Others can also portray the information in terms of drawing and art, music and role-playing to display their understanding.

Predicting is the ability to foretell an occurrence of an investigation based on previous knowledge of the same, looking forward to an outcome in the future. Achieved when measurements are organized into graphs to illustrate a trend

Hypothesizing is the ability to provide a guideline to an investigation of a given question. It helps scientists by offering ways in choosing the data to collect and that which needs attention, as well as a guide in ways to interpret different data in an investigation.

Experimenting, also known as controlled investigating is the process of deliberate investigation through manipulation. Sometimes students can decide to control experiments deliberately to obtain a test hypothesis to arrive at an explanation in a trial while changing certain variables at a time but keeping one variable constant.

Types of Investigations

The National Science Education Standards provides three main types of investigations that children should experience in understanding the investigation strategies for inquiry; these include the following; descriptive, classification, and experimental kind of investigation. All these involve all the processes of observing, classifying, inferring, measuring and communicating. Each type has different approaches and points of focus;

Descriptive investigations– here, the students answer questions on actions of objects, properties, events, and systems based on observational and measurement data gathered. The answers to some of the scientific questions lie in the observations and measurements. If the observations and measurements are wrong, the raised concerns will receive misleading responses.

Classificatory investigations – This process focuses on the classification process to help in organizing the collected information. The collected data will then be sorted and grouped according to their similar properties. It is the essential step used to categorize various objects and organisms

Experimental investigations – This is following the procedures in experiments that include controlled experiments, in providing the needed evidence informing and testing of hypotheses and generation of explicit explanations

My Conclusion from the Chapter

In understanding Scientific Inquiry, one must appreciate the importance of the processes and components of Science at every step. With the understanding of these skills, addressing and providing answers to various science questions become easy. One must know when to apply each step and how. The Following processes work hand in hand to address science knowledge, and it is for the student to have a better understanding of the same. Science is comprehensive in itself and that why there is its application in everyday life. These include; Observing, Classifying, Inferring, Communicating, Measuring, Predicting, Hypothesizing, and Experimenting.