In the classroom, we are often so focused on answers that we forget to ask the right questions. The teacher is often the one asking questions, but in this issue the theme is on helping students to ask questions that can be the basis for inquiry-based investigations.
In many workshops that I’ve done, I’ve given teachers a brief, relevant article and asked them to highlight 3-4 sentences that resonate with them—that are worth remembering or discussing. In the guest editorial Sparks That Ignite Inquiry, I would have highlighted these (which ones work for you?):

• Teachers are powerful models if they demonstrate what they ask students to do.
• Teachers can increase the likelihood that students will ask investigable questions by providing hands-on experiences using provocative materials.
• It is sometimes difficult for teachers to enable students to think for themselves because a pervasive philosophy underpinning much of American education is that school experiences should pass on knowledge that has already been learned.
• Learning is a lifelong set of experiences—throughout most of our lives we do not have a teacher to guide us. Successful adults have confidence in their own ability to ask questions and to further their knowledge through various means of inquiry.

I heard a teacher say once that her ninth-grade students weren’t mature enough for inquiry learning. I hope she looks at the articles in this issue that show how younger students are indeed capable of asking investigable questions, given guidance and scaffolding by the teacher. Thought-Provoking Questions has sample lessons (for K-3 and 4-6) on generating questions. Ready…Set…Go has a lesson idea in which 4^th graders learned about testable questions in an active, game-like setting.
Children ask lots of questions already, so even kindergarten students can be part of the process, too.

Investigable Questions includes a lesson that shows how to turn the traditional growing-beans-in-a-cup into a fair-test investigation. Curiosity + Kindergarten = Future Scientists shows how even something as simple as an egg can be used to stimulate curiosity when the teacher responds to a question, not with an answer, but with “How can we find out?”
I think a lot of confusion results from not having a common language or definitions during a discussion. Attending a Science Institute describes how teachers differentiated between investigable questions and “I wonder” questions. There is also a discussion of how to help students learn to ask investigable questions: from giving examples to selecting one from a list of 3-4 to creating their own. “Hypothesis” is another word with many interpretations (I grit my teeth when I hear that it’s an “educated guess.”) To Hypothesize or Not discusses what a hypothesis is (and is not). It has a probe that can be used to assess your students’ (and your own) knowledge of hypotheses. I’d recommend this article and probe (a downloadable version is available) for teachers of any grade level.
A Quest to Improve describes similar categories of questions: philosophical questions that cannot be answered by science, questions regarding facts (names, size, definitions), and complex questions that need tweaking or fine-tuning in order to be investigable. The author describes and provides examples of investigable questions: descriptive, relational, and cause-effect. Also included are suggestions for science notebooks and a checklist for evaluating questions.
Personalized Inquiry describes classifying questions into three categories, based on how they might be answered: observational studies, experimentation, or finding the answers in the literature. A fourth category is for questions than cannot be answered scientifically. (Note: for questions literature-based questions, the websites in SciLinks could be useful to recommend to students.) The author includes examples of each and a set of lessons on generating questions. The “personalized” in the title refers to the fact that each student contributes a question to the list.


Current events in children’s lives can lead to investigable questions, too. In Learning from the Oil Spill, the author describes a three-week unit in which students investigate oil spills and cleanup methods. She provides a sample lesson to address the question: How can oil from a disastrous spill be contained and removed effectively from a large body of water? During the time of the spill, there were many online resources and updates to help students understand the impact of the situation. The recently announced Online Clearinghouse for Education And Networking – Oil Interdisciplinary Learning (OCEAN-OIL) is just that – a collection of reviewed images, articles, and other content. If you’d like to compare the 2010 spill to a previous one, NOAA has created a comprehensive look at the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William’s Oily Mess This site is designed as a classroom resource with lesson plans, inquiry activities in a real-world context, photographs, readings, and interviews with scientists.
What Causes Things to Rust? has background information on the process. It’s a good introduction to Picture This!, which describes how first-graders use digital cameras to collect data to form questions and to investigate their questions.
SciLinks connections for content topics mentioned in the articles:

• Insects
• Marine ecosystems
• Rust (as a chemical change)
• Seed germination

And check out more Connections for this issue. Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, there are ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, and other resources.