What are the roles of scientific inquiry and critical thinking in life science education?
Scientific inquiry and critical thinking are two ways of describing how students learn and process knowledge. Scientific inquiry may be active and done in a field or laboratory setting, but it also may involve reading, posing questions and reflecting. Rodger Bybee (2002) recommends that teachers help students become critical scientific thinkers by teaching life science through inquiry. Through scientific inquiry, students learn the intricacies of investigation including experimental design, data collection, data interpretation and explanation, and defense of results. Germann (1991) also stresses that teaching science through inquiry is essential to fostering in students the ability to solve problems in a manner exemplified by scientists. Scientific inquiry enables students to discover that answering one question often leads to the development of new questions. (For more information on teaching science through inquiry, see Scientific Inquiry.) An integral component of all learning is cr
