A Push for an Inquiry Based Approach to Scientific Learning in the High School Classroom

The Molecular Biology Initiative (MBI) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) initiative that aims to enhance graduate student professional development with community outreach. Graduate fellows are partnered with science teachers in MBI funded high schools where they serve as content experts. Fellows and partner teachers collaborate to generate weekly activities that are designed to enhance student leaning and incorporate the graduate student’s thesis work into the teacher’s curriculum. I have worked with a variety of ages and learning levels including 9th grade advanced and honors biology and 12th grade advanced placement (AP) biology. My partner teacher and I have created a module that focuses on generating inquiry based activities that adhere to the national and state science standards in the following units: Biological Systems, Genetics/Mutations, and Structure-Function Relationships in Living Cells