Purchase Solution

Scientific Inquiry in the Kindergarten Classroom

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

What is scientific inquiry and how can it be used in a kindergarten classroom?

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

Scientific inquiry is a method of teaching science that requires students to use higher-level thinking skills by doing hands-on investigations. Using scientific inquiry, students are active learners as they ask questions, design investigations, explain their findings, present their discoveries to others and reflect upon their learning.

There are six steps to the scientific inquiry process. I will explain each step along with examples of how this process could be used in an investigation of "floating and sinking" which could be used in a kindergarten classroom.

Solution Preview

Scientific inquiry is a method of teaching science that requires students to use higher-level thinking skills by doing hands-on investigations. Using scientific inquiry, students are active learners as they ask questions, design investigations, explain their findings, present their discoveries to others and reflect upon their learning.

There are six steps to the scientific inquiry process. I will explain each step along with examples of how this process could be used in an investigation of "floating and sinking" which could be used in a kindergarten classroom.

1. EXPLORE AND POSE A QUESTION: This refers to questions raised by the students, not the teachers. At this step you're trying to encourage the students to wonder about something so that they want to explore the problem further. When teachers provide an interesting new experience for children, it encourages them to come up with questions. In addition, teachers can pose their own questions in order to model for the children and to challenge them to think more deeply. In our sinking and floating example, the teacher might set out plastic tubs filled with water and several toys of different weights and shapes. She could ask "What happened?" ...

Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Emotional Intelligence: A Beginning

An introduction to an emerging branch of Psychology-Emotional Intelligence.

Health Psychology

This quiz speaks to the general concepts, themes, and terminology associated with the field of health psychology.

A Review of Qualitative and Quantitative methodologies

This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Knowing the difference between the two can help in making the important decision of which to use when conducting research.

Anxiety Disorders

This quiz is designed to help students gain a better understanding of various types of anxiety disorders.

Role of Memory in Learning

This quiz addresses the role of memory in the learning process. The quiz differentiates between the different types of memory that facilitate learning.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • Social and Emotional Growth of Children

    Supporting the scientific thinking and inquiry of toddlers and preschoolers through play. YC Young Children, 67(3), 82-88. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1019288588?accountid=28180. The role of play in children's development.

  • Kindergarten Curriculum and Development

    Social studies education in kindergarten should promote good citizenship by encouraging children to discover how they fit into a classroom as individuals and as part of a larger group.

  • Inquiry-based Learning and Reinforcement in Science

    For example, once a class has learned the scientific method, they can be asked in every investigation or experiment how they followed this method, reinforcing its importance in scientific inquiry.

  • Preschool Education - science lesson

    Correct labeling of leaves and leaf life cycle Note: Students will benefit from this activity as a basic science project, because they will learn hand on and will gain skills for higher order thinking and scientific inquiry in its simplest form.

  • Encouraging Habits of the Mind and Self-Directedness

    But it is he who continues, facilitates scientific inquiry, and exemplifies complex systems of thought that will derive on the correct answer in the end.

  • classroom management implementation plan

    The following is a description of the Kindergarten Classroom Management Plan. 1. Overall classroom procedures: These documents are placed in a folder with the child's name on the outside.

  • Evaluating a Classroom Curriculum Design

    In elementary grades, students begin to develop the physical and intellectual abilities of scientific inquiry.

  • Constructivist theory of education

    You might add that your classroom will be interactive, communicative, and inquiry-based. Besides the strong focus on benchmarks and objectives, you might look at how your approach will also activate the affective, not just cognitive domain.

  • Kindergarten Expectations

    The domains assessed by the WSS are: (1) social and personal development; (2) language and literacy; (3) mathematical thinking; (4) scientific thinking; (5) social studies; (6) the arts; and (7) physical development.

View More Related Solutions