Running head: JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE 1

Journal Article Critique

Emma Bauman

Ivy Tech Community College

JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE 2

Journal Article Critique

Inquiry is a process of asking a question, making a claim, finding evidence to support

your claim, coming to a conclusion, and providing research that supports your conclusion.

Inquiry can be used in any aspect of life but is particularly helpful in the classroom. Giving

students the tools to ask good, thought provoking questions can engage them into their learning

in a way that most traditional classrooms don’t give them. Letting the student lead the process of

inquiry can help them not only learn, but understand the material and concepts they are expected

to know.

I read an article called “Can Collaborative Knowledge Building Promote Both Scientific

Processes and Science Achievement?” written by Carol K. K. Chan, Ivan C. K. Lam, and

Raymond W.H. Leung. This article defined inquiry as something that is “often limited to

sequences of activities and fixed standards that focus on isolated skills rather than authentic

inquiry.” (Chan, Lam, & Leung, 2012) They state that “The real goal of science for the creation

of knowledge remains to be investigated, along with how knowledge-creation can be integrated

with school curricula and assessment in classrooms.” (Chan, Lam, & Leung, 2012)

According to the article, the environment is “designed to foster the scientific

understanding” (Chan, Lam, & Leung, 2012) and is a key component to scientific inquiry. It is

also important that students can meet the science concepts required by school curriculum while

creating an environment of scientists that can improve their scientific practices and create new

knowledge and understanding. Knowledge-creating or learning, is a key component of scientific

inquiry with the goal of the student being able to understand.

I agree with the article’s idea of what inquiry is. I agree that it is usually limited to

sequences of activities and standards that focus on isolated skills and not specifically focused on
JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE 3

authentic inquiry. Through my experience as a student and what I have seen while service

learning, teachers often attempt to have a classroom that is open to inquiry but they often do not

put the work in to keep it going in the classroom. The textbook’s definition of inquiry fits with

the articles view of inquiry but the textbooks definition is geared more strictly towards the

classroom not just inquiry in general.

According to the article, a knowledge-building community is a place where students can

make progress by improving their personal knowledge and developing collective knowledge

through working together and sharing ideas. “Students use a Knowledge Forum to pose cutting-

edge problems, generate theories and conjectures, search for scientific information, elaborate on

the ideas of others, and co-construct explanations, thereby collectively revising and refining their

ideas.” (Chan, Lam, & Leung, 2012) The teacher facilitates the inquiry by working with students

and designing a knowledge forum to promote the students’ inquiry. The teacher works to make

sure that the inquiry is lining up with the curriculum set by the school and guiding the students to

put share their ideas and work together. I think that a great teacher would do all of these things.

As a good teacher, you have to put work into your students and developing the

curriculum that was set by the school, township, or the state that students need to know. Working

with the students to design a knowledge forum can really help to make sure that the students are

doing something that they want to do and something that will work for them to gain a better

understanding of what they are learning. Providing an environment where students can work

together and collaborate to gain knowledge is a characteristic of a good teacher.

The National Science Teachers Association’s Position Statement on Scientific Inquiry

shares their idea of what scientific inquiry is as well as what the roles of teachers and students

are to drive scientific inquiry in the classroom. The position statement states that the National
JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE 4

Science Education Standards defines scientific inquiry as “the diverse ways in which scientists

study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work.

Scientific inquiry also refers to the activities through which students develop knowledge and

understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural

world.” In comparison to the article “Can Collaborative Knowledge Building Promote Both

Scientific Processes and Science Achievement?” the position from the NSTA provides a more in

depth explanation of what scientific inquiry is but it does not discredit the article’s ideas.

After reading this article and the NSTA position, I have gained an even deeper

understanding of scientific inquiry. Though my time in class, I have learned a lot about how

inquiry works by doing it myself and working in groups to learn through inquiry. Because of this,

I have only really gotten a good idea of a small part of inquiry, the role that the student plays.

The book has also thought me about inquiry and ways to implement it in the classroom and this

was a way to combine the two ways that I have learned about inquiry so far. My view on

scientific inquiry has grown through the course of this assignment.

When I have my own classroom, I plan to incorporate scientific inquiry by providing an

environment for my students where they can emerge themselves in resources to build their

knowledge. I will have my students work in groups so that they can bounce ideas off of each

other and give them the opportunity to use multiple different resources to gain knowledge. I will

also use it to teach them to ask good questions, make claims, find evidence to support their

claims, make conclusions, and back it up with their research. I believe that this is a great way to

encourage students understand concepts instead of just memorizing and restating the

information.
JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE 5

In conclusion, scientific inquiry is a process that is underused in the classroom but can

have amazing benefits for the students. The process asks students to ask good questions, make

claims, make claims, find evidence to support their claims, make conclusions, and back it up

with their research. This process of learning can be extremely helpful because it helps the student

understand the information they need to know according to the curriculum set by the school.
JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE 6

Reference:

Chan, C. K., Lam, I. C., & Leung, R. W. (2012). Can Collaborative Knowledge Building

Promote Both Scientific Processes and Science Achievement? IJEP- International

Journal of Educational Psychology 1(3), 199-227. Retrieved October 3, 2017.

National Science Teachers Association - NSTA. (n.d.). NSTA Position Statement. Retrieved

October 01, 2017, from http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/inquiry.aspx