Academic Learning Skills

A Student Guide to
Inquiry­based Science

Science is an important part of your education. Science lets you explore life's wonders and learn about the world around you. Most of your science classes teach you formal science lessons required by law. In these classes, you usually investigate questions that other people, like a teacher, ask. If you want to answer your own questions, you can investigate questions using informal, inquiry­based science.

Inquiry­based Science lets you ask questions, design experiments, and tell others about your results. You are in control of what you learn, although adult support is helpful.

Here are two examples of inquiry­based science projects:

You decide to give a friend some flowers, and you want them to last a long time. You decide to investigate how to make cut flowers last longer.

  1. Pose a question: How can I make cut flowers last longer?
  2. Brainstorm possible solutions: Vary the light conditions, Vary the temperature, or Add something to the water.
  3. Choose a possible solution and expand on it: Add different things to the water to see if they preserve the flowers longer. Try sugar, a store bought solution, and aspirin.
  4. Investigate: Test each additive. Record the number of days a flower in each solution lasts.
  5. Communicate your results: Give a flower to your friend and tell her how she can make it last longer.
At school, you learned about different hazards in many homes. You are concerned about the safety of your home. You decide to investigate how safe your home is.
  1. Pose a question: How safe is my home?
  2. Brainstorm possible problems: Might contain radon or too much carbon dioxide, or May not be safe for small children.
  3. Choose a problem to investigate: The home may have too much radon.
  4. Investigate: Ask your parents to help you obtain a radon test (available at many hardware stores) and follow the instructions on the test.
  5. Communicate your results: Tell your family about the radon level in your home. If it's too high, tell them how the family can work together to solve the problem.
Inquiry­based science experiments are particularly good for science projects, but you also can complete them just for fun. Start asking questions, today, and learn more about your world.

Developed by Jessie Moore

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