Inquiry Lab

Inquiry-based Learning: One of the most challenging methods of teaching agricultural education. For a practice run on inquiry-based learning I attempted to do a study on pesticide safety. This lesson had to incorporate some scientific equipment. The lesson plan was designed for students to evaluate and compare two plants. One plant was healthy. The other plant was sick, yellow, and dried up. The intent of the lesson was to have students create a hypothesis as to why these two plants looked different in their growth. They would then design an experiment to find out what problems were causing these health issues.

However, when I presented the material to the students, I wasn’t very clear, and this made it difficult for the students to understand what my expectations were. This helped me to understand that inquiry based learning is a developmental process. It takes significant time for students to grasp the concept of inquiry-based learning. Without proper preparation it can be very frustrating for students to complete. So while my lesson was frustrating to my students, it was still successful in incorporating inquiry-based learning methods.

While I don‘t fully understand inquiry based learning, I know much more than I did when I began this semester at Penn State. I’m excited to continue developing my inquiry-based learning skills, and to utilize them in my lessons for the spring semester while student teaching at Penns Manor.