The Science Center of Inquiry (SCI) was founded to help teachers improve student science understanding through authentic, inquiry-based, materials-rich science investigations. Our mission is urgent because indicators suggest that student achievement in science is below expectations.  Inquiry as a central strategy for improving science understanding is strongly imbedded in National and many State Science Standards. The Inquiry approach holds great promise for significantly improving student performance because it helps students to become active and sometimes passionate learners.  Students develop a deeper understanding of the world around them and are encouraged to communicate and discuss their knowledge.

Moving to inquiry-based teaching and learning is very difficult.  It requires a major rethinking for teaching and learning.  Many teachers feel that it is possible to guide students through a set of observations (guided inquiry). But actually transferring some of the responsibility to students to ask meaningful questions from which they build real understanding is beyond most existing models for learning. It is very difficult to get beyond the: "Make these observations and here are the questions you should be asking."  However, inquiry is not a single path to a single answer. 

SCI believes that inquiry is not a single path to a single answer.  Effective inquiry learning happens when students are encouraged to be curious and are empowered to ask lots of questions, to design ways to answer their questions, to process information from their research, to feel invested in their answers, and to communicate and debate their findings.

To help teachers move to a more inquiry-based learning model, SCI has developed the "123 ABC's of Inquiry", an approach that serves as a guideline for doing inquiry. This model is a highly effective and non-linear procedure for improving student science achievement in ways that also build a passion for life-long learning. 

SCI puts the "123 ABC's of Inquiry" to work in Hands-On Investigations that directly meet science standards. These Investigations were developed to address important issues such as the role of science across the curriculum, resource allocation, high-stakes testing, teacher preparation, systemic pressures, and time allocation within an already full schedule.