Physics teacher candidates at various times are asked to prepare interactive
demonstrations, and inquiry-oriented lessons and lab activities for the PTE
courses in which they are enrolled. This might leave the teacher candidate
with questions relating to the practical differences between demonstrations,
lessons, and labs. For instance, couldn’t a good inquiry-oriented lesson
consist of a series of interactive demonstrations? If so, how does the series
of interactive demonstrations and the inquiry lesson differ? An inquiry-oriented
laboratory activity would seem to be an inquiry-oriented lesson. So what is
the difference between the lesson and lab activities? Without a clear distinction
between the three, a student who is asked to present a lesson might indeed
present an interactive demonstration; a student asked to prepare an inquiry-oriented
lab might actually produce an inquiry-oriented lesson. While the distinction
between a demonstration and lab might appear clear, it’s the transitional
form – the lesson – that is often confused with both. Because
the teacher candidate might not yet have a clear understanding of the distinction,
one is provided here.
Clearly, these three pedagogical approaches – demonstration, lesson,
and lab – need to be distinguished not only for the purpose of preparing
activities in the university classroom, but also to understand the distinct
purposes that each activity serves. Knowing the difference, say, between a
lesson and a lab, teachers will be able to promote those intellectual process
skills with which each is most closely associated. Let’s look at each
of these pedagogical approaches, moving from one that is most dependent upon
the teacher to the one that is least dependent upon a teacher. In the former
case (interactive demonstration) the teacher models important traits and skills
and encourages students to do likewise; in the latter case (inquiry-oriented
lab) students demonstrate the full range of intellectual process skills expected
of someone who can be said to be scientifically literate. The transitional
activity (inquiry-oriented lesson) helps students make the transition from
dependence to independence of thought and action. The table below will help
teacher candidates to distinguish the three inquiry practices dealt with in
this article.
Inquiry Practice |
Questions & Source |
Equipment or Materials |
Pedagogical Purpose |
Teacher Support |
| Interactive Demonstration (modeled inquiry) | The teacher is the source of multiple specific questions and provides suggestions or help as needed. | Teacher manipulates demonstration apparatus with, perhaps, some student assistance. | Models appropriate questioning & problem-solving strategies; gets students to think inductively and deductively. | High – teacher directed; teacher models expected performance; teacher directs student performance. |
| Inquiry Lesson (guided inquiry) |
The teacher is the source of multiple guiding questions. General questions serve as the basis for direction. | Students manipulate laboratory equipment with a diminishing assistance from the teacher. | Teacher helps students to make a transition from dependence to independence. | Medium – teacher aided; teacher provides minimal support and encourages student independence in thought and action; teacher guides student performance |
| Inquiry Laboratory (free inquiry) |
Teacher provides student performance objective; students generate guiding questions. | Students manipulate laboratory equipment with essentially no assistance from the teacher. | Gets students to create and execute experimental design, and demonstrate independence of thought and action. | Low – student-directed; students demonstrate expected performance; teacher encourages independent student performance; provides support only if needed. |
Table. Major differences between interactive demonstrations, and inquiry-oriented
lessons and labs.
Interactive Demonstration – An interactive demonstration
generally will consist of a teacher modeling inquiry. This will consist of
such things as manipulating (demonstrating) a scientific apparatus, and then
asking probing questions about what will happen (prediction) or why something
might have happened (explanation). While questions drive the demonstration,
a substantial amount of direction is provided as necessary. More information
about interactive demonstrations can be found by following links on the PHY
311 web page.
Inquiry Lesson – An inquiry lesson can be considered
an instance of guided inquiry. It will generally consist of students manipulating
a scientific apparatus with a limited degree of guidance of the teacher, where
advice is generally provided indirectly through questioning (“Which
variables are important to control?”) Questions serve as the basis of
instruction. The inquiry lesson is not to be confused with a cookbook lab
that is quite different.
Inquiry Lab – An inquiry lab can be considered an instance
where the teacher allows students to conduct free inquiry. When provided with
a performance objective, students will identify questions to be asked, and
will develop and conduct an experiment, will control variables, collect and
interpret data, draw conclusions, and communicate results.
Implementation of Pedagogies – It should be clear from
these definitions, that inquiry-oriented lab activities require significant
independence of thought and action on the part of the students. It would be
unrealistic for a teacher to assume that students could ask and then seek
and find answer to important scientific questions without first providing
them with some form of exemplar. Teachers should, as the school year progresses,
move from presenting mostly interactive demonstrations to a growing number
of lessons and labs. Interactive demonstrations might diminish in number but
will not disappear. They will be supplemented more and more by inquiry-oriented
lessons and labs as students become more and more capable of working independently.
Employing this sequence of strategies is designed to do just that. For instance,
the teacher-directed demonstration leads to the teacher-aided lesson; the
lesson leads to a student-guided laboratory. In each case, the teacher models
the appropriate behavior and then fades as students learn more about the processes
being taught. The teacher moves from being a sage on the stage to a guide
one the side.