Using inquiry with your students requires thoughtful planning and structure. The term ‘scaffolding’ refers to breaking an event up into small manageable chunks. When teaching inquiry, scaffolding means modeling for students and then offering the students an opportunity to try one or more parts of the inquiry process on their own. Scaffolding the inquiry process for your students enables them to understand each process thoroughly and helps them transition from teacher-centered to student-centered learning.
In the following video clip, consider how the teacher scaffolds the process of creating a testable question and assessing her students as well. Watch how she frames and models this process for her students.
CONSIDER THIS:
As you watch this video...
- How might you take the introduction of a “cookbook lab” and have students generate a hypothesis?
- What is the importance of having students create a hypothesis?
- How has scaffolding the inquiry process made inquiry manageable for both students and the teacher?
