SPRINGING INTO INQUIRY 24 SCIENCE SCOPE A lthough inquiry is more engaging and re- sults in more meaningful learning (Minner, Levy, and Century 2010) than traditional science classroom instruction, actually in- volving students in the process is dif icult. Further- more, many students have misconceptions about Earth’s seasons, which are supported by students’ prior knowledge of heat sources. We provide an ex- ample of how to engage students in inquir y about the Earth’s seasons and show how to use students’ think- ing, temperature data, and careful observation to cre- ate opportunities for inquiry investigations that target student misconceptions about seasons. Students’ ideas We begin by asking students, “Why do you think Earth has seasons?” Students work in pairs and draw their ideas on a small white- board. We walk around the classroom to get a sense of what the class is thinking while students are discussing and drawing. After several minutes of work time, we ask students to share their ideas with the class. At this early stage, we accept all ideas, regardless of accuracy. While students want to know which answer is cor- rect, our goal is for them to understand that un- certainty and speculation are part of the learn- ing and scientiic process. We want students to feel that all of their ideas are valued, and we don’t want to send the message that only right answers matter by rejecting inaccurate ideas. Instead, we try to encourage students to relect on the different ideas being presented by asking, “How will we decide which of these ideas is the most useful?” Students’ common response to the seasons question is “Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and farther away in the winter” (we call this idea “the distance model”). Other answers we have heard include that Earth has thicker clouds in the winter or the Sun is on the other side of Earth during winter. All of these misconceptions are well known throughout science education (Schneps and Sadler 1988; Driver et al. 1994; Tsai and Chang 2005). This formative assessment helps us identify student misconceptions and gener- ates student interest by drawing their attention to the multiple ideas shared. Springing Into by Jesse Wilcox and Jerrid Kruse Using Student Ideas to Investigate Seasons Inquiry