Research On Problems Of Modeling Science Instruction On Scientific Inquiry

By inquiry different people mean different things. Generally speaking, it refers to the process during which people are trying hard to solve problems. It includes both informal activities of figuring things out driven by innate curiosity and formal investigations made in the field of a subject in a special way. As intended, planned and organized activities of mankind, inquiry in the classroom should be formal in nature instead of being made in a spontaneous manner. The reason lies in the fact that human cultures have been developed for a long time and are far beyond any personal experience. It is impossible for any individual to master them by spontaneous inquiry. Instead, only with the help of others and with the mastery of culture inquiry models can individuals understand and innovate cultures. Therefore, inquiry instruction in science is defined in this paper as a kind of learning activity in which students are engaged to develop science literacy in a way similar to scientific inquiry and under the direction of teachers. Put it another way, science instruction is modeled on, not the same as scientific inquiry.Special attention should be paid to the degree to which scientific inquiry is simulated when inquiry instruction is carried on. We must deal appropriately with the relation between scientific inquiry and inquiry instruction and not to go to extremes. Neither their differences nor their similarities could be ignored to such extent that inquiry instructipn is confused with or has nothing to do with scientific inquiry. So it is important to keep a dynamic balance between inquiry and scientific inquiry: the higher the education level is, the more similarinquiry instruction and scientific inquiry are. For this purpose, many factors such as students' development, the aim and contents of instruction and resources available should be taken into account so that inquiry instruction models suitable for different education stages could be built. The design and implementation of inquiry instruction should be guided under above ideas.As early as the rum of 20th century educators began to recommend and experiment with inquiry in science instruction and the same efforts have been made ever since. At the end of last century countries all over the world have waged science education reform again and inquiry instruction has become the focus of attention once more. However why and how to carry on inquiry instruction remains a problem. From the perspective of simulation, the main reason is that the relation between inquiry and scientific inquiry were dealt with inappropriately.Analyzing from the perspective of simulation, what experiences and lessons can we take from past research results such as the pragmatism theory of inquiry instruction, the information-processing theory of inquiry instruction? What definition is more appropriate for inquiry instruction at present days? These questions are to be discussed in the first chapter.hi the following chapter the main reasons for the current inquiry instruction tide are given. It is commonly believed that inquiry instruction can offer opportunities for each student to develop science literacy, understand the authentic science and get science education tightly connected with students' life world. As a whole, these three beliefs are closely related. They promote and restrict one another. Overemphasizing one while neglecting another would leave inquiry instruction on the wrong track as before.Is inquiry similar to scientific inquiry in the classroom an effective way for students to learn? Only after the positive answer is found can inquiry instruction be widely applied. Teachers who fail to understand the theoretical base behind inquiry instruction might lose their faith in or even be suspicious about it. In order to answer this question the author introduces the theory of constructive knowing in the third chapter. According to this theory, students' knowing is a process of active constructing, not a process of passive receiving. Since problem-solving is an ef...