Table 1 The three inquiry-based activities
| Scientific practices | Social structure | Examples of activities | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ecology investigation | Sociological investigation | Archeological investigation | |||
| Preparation (online) |
Asking questions Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information Planning and carrying out investigations | Individual | Analyzing maps | Reading abstracts of social science studies and identifying their characteristics |
Reading about the differences between history and archeology Reading an excavation report to learn about methods |
| Group |
Reading background materials on ecological methods and suggesting initial research questions Designing the group’s study: data collection instruments | Reading about the villages, summarizing the information in a collaborative presentation, and asking inquiry questions to study one or both villages | Arranging findings by archeological periods | ||
| Field investigation | Planning and carrying out investigations | Individual | Guided observation on the ecological investigation site | Meeting with community representatives and getting background information |
Archeological survey Archeological excavation |
| Group |
Identifying interesting phenomena and refining the questions; asking more questions and discussing hypotheses; describing the area, photographing Consistent measuring of abiotic and biotic factors |
Collecting data using questionnaires, interviews, and observations in the communities Photographing and documenting the village environments |
Logging the data in a collaborative database Photographing and documenting | ||
| Wrap-up (online) |
Analyzing and interpreting data Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information Constructing explanations. Engaging in argument from evidence | Group |
Comparing habitats, quantitative graphical representations Writing conclusions Creating a collaborative e slide presentation |
Identifying cultural characteristics, conflicts, identities Designing scientific poster or a conference abstract to communicate results |
Using typological map to arrange the artifacts Data analysis and writing explanations Designing and making a video-clip to present the twofold study |
| Individual |
Critiquing other groups’ presentations and writing feedback (peer review) Writing reflections based on prompts |
Peer review of the abstracts and posters Writing reflections based on prompts |
Peer review of the video-clips Writing reflections based on prompts | ||