The Science Xpress

Manasa Sharma

“There were several roads nearby, but it did not take Dorothy long to find the one paved with yellow bricks. Within a short time, she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City; her Silver Shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow road-bed”.
~The wonderful wizard of oz

As a child during my earlier years, I had a great many questions about why we did what we did, and what would happen next. Having already read many school books that all taught me facts about science and mathematics, I did not have the perspective to see that what all those books told me was frequently wrong or incomplete. I also found that the standard schools were obviously biased towards the assumption that knowledge about science and math is an important way for humans to use their mind, to think critically and creatively and invent etc, rather than focus on motor skills, socialization and the like. As an educator I now realize how often we are at crossroads. One path makes you want to choose a curriculum-based, fact-checked approach to teaching which on its own is appealing and easy for many reasons, and one path built on the scientific method and inquiry.

The children’s novel, “The Wonderful Wizard of oz” has a lot to teach us about Inquiry and quests. What makes the book a beloved classic is – Dorothy’s long, adventurous trip down the Yellow Brick Road.

What does the yellow brick have to do with Science and inquiry?

The yellow brick road represents the path that will ultimately lead to the right destination. In this case, the right outcomes of science learning. A life of inquiry into how and why things happen is a life well-lived. We owe it to ourselves and our children to give them the opportunity to question, experiment, explore, and figure out the wizard of oz all by themselves. Inquiry builds curiosity and wonder, develops creativity, fosters independence in thought and action, facilitates scientific thinking skills such as logic-based reasoning skills; analytical skills for identifying patterns in data; hypothesis-testing abilities; data management skills for organizing ideas on paper or computer media; communication skills for conveying thoughts through language or symbols that stand for those thoughts. It also enhances problem-solving abilities through logical analysis of information gathered from known facts to reach an answer unreached before. It teaches students what they need most – a brain, a heart and some courage. 

Science Inquiry engages everyone in learning about the world around them. It is not a subject for children or special interest groups or as an academic subject for academics. It can be applied to every area of our lives, not just to “hard” areas such as natural science, mathematics and engineering.

Whether abstract theories or practical applications, science is the study of our universe. When we identify scientific problems and solutions others can use, we make our world better—whether it is about health care, environmental sustainability for our planet, agricultural production for food security and food safety, public safety and security; or any other issue where science can be useful to enhance living conditions in people’s daily lives.

The 5 characteristics of inquiry are:
1) being able to cope with questions; 2) finding information to help in solving a problem or answering a question; 3) generating questions and hypotheses; 4) making observations and asking questions; 5) creating products based on experimentation, modeling, drawing conclusions and predictions, and writing up the results. The Inquiry Model of teaching can be used with any content area because the Inquiry model promotes active participation by students in their own learning. These five characteristics can be applied to any subject being taught in school today.

Scientific inquiry is the process of exploring and describing the world using the scientific method. Inquiry-based instruction involves asking students to inquire into complex questions and real-world problems. It prepares students to become active learners, developing higher-order thinking skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning, and analysis.
Inquiry encourages students to discover for themselves which ideas are reliable and which are not by recognizing patterns that exist among those that have been verified by previous researchers or experimenters. Much like Dorothy’s yellow brick road, the inquiry way is full of quests, adventures, learning experiences, and a lot of fun.

1. Bruner, J. S. (1961). “The act of discovery”. Harvard Educational Review 31 (1): 21–32.
2. Roth, Wolff-Michael; Jornet, Alfredo (2013). “Toward a theory of experience”. Science Education. 98 (1): 106–26. Bibcode:2014SciEd..98..106R. doi:10.1002/sce.21085. hdl:10072/67780