Technology Supports for Acquiring Inquiry Skills

Inquiry skills are a pivotal target of (science) education. Skillful inquiry includes the knowledge of processes such as hypothesis generation, experimentation, and evaluation. In addition, adequate inquiry requires proficiency in planning and monitoring. Technological environments such as simulations, games, remote laboratories, etc. are suitable for acquiring inquiry skills since they provide learners with a context for setting up and testing out ideas. To help students acquire inquiry skills, these environments need to be extended with specific scaffolds that initially support and train students in developing them.