Inquiry in its modern form has been around since the 1950’s. It’s initial emphasis focused on hands-on laboratory investigations. Two NSF sponsored high school chemistry curriculum development projects, the Chemical Bond Approach (1959) and the Chemical Education Curriculum Study were early examples of inquiry instruction based on laboratory activities. A form of inquiry instruction, called the learning cycle approach, divides instruction into three phases; exploration, invention and application. The exploration phase relies on data collection in the laboratory, followed by group discussion to invent the critical concept from the data, and application activities to help deepen understanding of the concept. At about the same time as inquiry instruction was being emphasized, many forms of technology began to appear in the classroom along with activities that used the technology in instruction. However, early use of microcomputers in the classroom, when associated with the laboratory did not always support an inquiry approach. One of the weaknesses of inquiry instruction based on laboratory activities, which by their very nature presents information at the macroscopic level, was the difficulty of inventing particulate level concepts and explanations. With dynamic particulate level simulations it became possible to investigate conceptual understanding at the particulate level. Written inquiry activities were built with these simulations to allow students to invent concepts based on a particulate level view.

Inquiry activities based on Simulations and Animations

249th National Meeting (2015)

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