Teaching the carbon cycle using IBL in the secondary schools

Abstract

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a didactic approach that stimulates pupils to experiment, observe, and investigate, to answer the questions on phenomena and find problem solutions. In certain countries the approach is widely and ordinarily used in science teaching while in other contexts the use of textbooks is still rooted as traditional teaching method. IBL can be applied even through a variety of learning models which include knowledge-building, learning by design, and computer simulation. In this chapter the application of the 5E Instructional Model developed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study in the context of 30 secondary schools of Tuscany region, Italy, is described.