Activity	Inquiry
Time	short (approx. 50 min.)	long (more than 5 x 50 min.)
Planning	definite, allows preplanning	flexible, general preplanning
Materials	ready to go teacher's responsibility	upon student's request teacher's and student's responsibility
Results	known by the teacher, published by text, and most times known by students one expected and accepted result	unknown by teacher, students, or text multiple results will be negotiated & discussed
Working Hypothesis	well defined by teacher prior to research/experimentation	arising from students' questions and based on their experiences
Teacher's Feelings	in control (high power) unchallenged intellectually (assimilation mood) relaxed -low energy level expert (students asking for reinforcement). having fun	sharing control (lower power) intellectually challenged (accommodation mood) learning a lot - perturbed experienced co-learner (students discussing findings with teacher and students alike) perturbed by the intellectual challenge
Students' Feelings	following prescribed procedures matching personal finding with  expected findings (teacher's) findings working on teacher's question one right answer passive	developing procedures, lists of material, resources and/or equipment interpreting results as there are no prescribed findings as students develop the question, the teacher does not know the answer multiple answers accepted motivated - using "I/we want to find out" perturbed challenged intellectually and looking for equilibrium (Piaget)
Assessment	immediate product-oriented (right/wrong answer) technical	long-term process-oriented developing rubrics
Students' Learning	technical skill (follow procedures) and develop low order cognitive skills disregard results that do not match teacher's expectations inquiry is done by special people perpetuate the idea of the world as unexplainable understanding and power belong to a select few	observation and develop higher order cognitive skills disregard data for reasonable and scientific reasons use discrepancies as entry points for inquiry inquiry can be done by anyone inquiry as patterning the world understanding and power are available to anyone

Adapted from Science and Children. January 1998, pg. 17