The nature and use of inquiry based learning in meaningful chemistry

Inquiry-based learning is a pedagogy which enables students to experience the processes of knowledge creation. Scientific understanding in chemistry requires considerable higher-order thinking—to apply, to analyze, to evaluate and to construct knowledge among different representations or models. Chemists build new knowledge using Abstract ion techniques such analogical reasoning, imagistic reasoning, thought experiments, and limiting case analysis. In inquiry-based science learning, the learner will learn to pose researchable questions and pursue them through open-ended investigations. Inquiry thus involves a complex thinking process when a learner attempts to convert the information presented by the educator to useful, applicable knowledge. Chemistry students learn in an inquiry-based classroom by formulating questions, developing investigations, and analyzing results. Inquiry-based classrooms f allowed students to confront problems, generate and test ideas for themselves, and apply them to new problem situations.