Trajectories for inquiry in the chemistry laboratory

CHED 1469

Michael E. Fay, fayme@muohio.edu and Stacey Lowery Bretz, bretzsl@muohio.edu. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056
Inquiry activities vary widely in the level of structure provided for students by the teacher, particularly activities implemented in the laboratory setting. Laboratory activities that are highly structured leave little room for students to direct their learning experience, which is the antithesis of inquiry. This talk will present a rubric to evaluate the degree of structure across chemistry experiments as well as suggest possible trajectories for structuring inquiry across the curriculum. The trajectories demonstrate practical methods for adapting the curriculum to include higher levels of inquiry.