Learning to do Science - Inquiry Exercises ?

Although there has been significant discussion in the education  community about  the need for   "doing science to learn science", most curricula  employ Inquiry laboratory exercises that are still simply "cook book "exercises in which the student cannot assume ownership.  Typically,  the hypothesis is already presented and the student  simply gets to choose a variable  in the experiment .  In the Capital  Biotechnology program,  we have been devising  novel Inquiry exercises that require  almost complete  independence  to achieve the objective. The exercises take the form of simple challenges. They are more difficult to run than  standard laboratory  exercises , since the students are likely to move in  unanticipated directions . Thus,  the instructor notes  are quite complex. In the following posts , we will describe our Inquiry Exercises , invite instructors to use them in their own courses,  and provide feedback .