All material is my personal opinion, and not that of any other organization.
Permission is granted for individual teacher use.
All rights reserved. My experience clearly shows that for an open-ended inquiry model such as the investigation kits to produce true investigations, students will need an extensive background. I believe, based on my experience, that middle school students would need at least a full semester, if not a full year, of teacher-led and guided inquiry, before they would be ready to take on the autonomous investigations in the kits. Were I to attempt this approach again, I would design introductory activities as entry points to each kit, and make sure the kit was well-equipped to conduct further experiments. I described my ideas for improved kits in my November reflections on our experiences.