ABSTRACT
By analyzing the work of a variety of teachers who use an inquiry method of teaching, a theory of inquiry teaching is formulated in terms of the goals, strategies, and control structure different teachers use. This chapter illustrates the theory by an extended inquiry dialogue on the nature of lenses. It shows how the theory can be applied in detail to one specific context. Inquiry teachers have two overall goals. One is to teach a deep understanding of a particular domain so that students can make novel predictions about the domain. The other is to teach students to be good scientists so that they can learn to construct general rules and theories on their own, and be able to test them out. In running an inquiry dialogue with students, teachers maintain an agenda of goals and subgoals that is continuously updated throughout the dialogue.
