Using Dialogue to Inculcate Scientific Inquiry in Gifted Students

Using Dialogue to Inculcate Scientific Inquiry in Gifted Students

Scientific inquiry would provide the gifted with an intellectual framework to integrate the study of science with other disciplines such as mathematics and computer science. We need to teach gifted children to be reflective and to inquire, such that they will be able to inquire after and locate the knowledge they require. By using the Socratic and discussion methods as teaching tools, the process of scientific inquiry can be used to explore and integrate subjects in the curriculum. It requires well trained teachers to implement, teachers who are steeped in the Socratic method of instruction and who possess not only in-depth knowledge about one field of inquiry but also have the capacity to make appropriate connections to other disciplines as well. This paper focuses on the use of Socratic inquiry in science lessons. Excerpts of a transcript of a demonstration lesson are included.