JoinA Multi-Week Inquiry for an Undergraduate Introductory Biology Laboratory: Investigating Correlations Between Environmental Variables and Leaf Stomata Density
Many freshmen students lack sufficient confidence, organizational skills, and content background for open-ended student-directed investigations. In this article, one solution is an intermediate step that retains some of the ownership and empowerment components of open-ended inquiries. This intermediate is referred to as a “bounded inquiry,” where students research questions and study subjects are instructor constrained. A critical component of this activity is that at the end students present their research findings to peers during an in-class research symposium.