What does a teacher do after completing a long and busy year of school? Go back to school! Fourteen area teachers invested two weeks of their summer in The Nature of Scientific Inquiry, a three-credit graduate course offered by Washington State University Tri-Cities. The teachers spent the hours of 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at LIGO on each day of the ten-day course, participating in a variety of activities designed to sharpen both their personal understanding of scienctific inquiry and their ability to implement inquiry-based methods in classroom science instruction.

Nearly one third of Washington State's Grade Level Expectations (GLE's) in science make reference to scientific inquiry and science investigation skills. Many teachers did not receive exposure to science inquiry as part of their own science education at either the pre-college or undergraduate levels. LIGO and WSU Tri-Cities are seeking to close this "inquiry gap" by providing research-based instruction in inquiry methods in a professional science environment where the course participants can observe science investigations first-hand. LIGO offers this real world inquiry exposure by pairing course participants with Observatory staff members for job shadows and interviews that provided teachers with a glimpse of the day-to-day tasks that scientists and engineers undertake. For many of the teachers, these interactions produced new insights into the nature and practice of science. In reflecting upon her experience in the course, one class member wrote "The opportunity as a teacher to shadow a scientist was so powerful that it greatly inspired my inquiry unit. Seeing how they went about the daily practice of their craft (which went to the heart of inquiry), I am challenged to ask my students to focus on a question and pursue the answer wherever it leads."

Course instructor Judy Morrison (above left), WSU Tri-Cities Professor of Teaching and Learning, built upon the LIGO backdrop by taking the course participants through activities that clarified the nature of science. Firmer understanding of the nature of science led to the honing of inquiry instructional methods. The teachers completed several inquiry-based activities themselves, including a visit with Isaac Newton's pendulum experiments directed by LHO Head Fred Raab (above right). Over the final portion of the course the teachers worked hard to develop four inquiry-based classroom activities and an outline for an inquiry-based science unit. Each teacher presented one activity to the class as part of the culminating exercise of the course.

The course required a significant level of energy and output from the participants. Readings, reflective writings, summary papers of several course activities and the final inquiry activities and unit plan left no doubt that this was school. In addition to the benefit of a participation stipend, teachers received the satisfaction of departing with a clearer understanding of science inquiry. They also took away a set of classroom science inquiry activities for their own students to use during the upcoming school year. Fortunately there remained several weeks of summer for some well-deserved relaxation after the course concluded near the end of July.