ABSTRACT
One strategy for making science laboratories more student-centered and to meet the National Science Education Standards for inquiry is to convert verification activities to inquiry-based investigations. This chapter provides teachers with simple strategies to convert a confirmation-type osmosis laboratory into an inquiry investigation. Verification labs focus on science terminology, concepts, and facts rather than students' prior experiences and knowledge. Verification labs lack meaningful and relevant driving questions that should focus the lesson and engage students in the material. Osmosis is a cellular response: the movement of water that maintains internal cellular stability while external conditions change. Students can explore osmosis in red onion cells using a microscope, and free software is available online that provides an animation of osmosis at a microscopic level. Regardless of the strategy used to investigate osmosis at the microscopic level, allowing the students to explore osmosis in the vegetables makes the experience more meaningful and the knowledge long term.
