Model-Based Inquiry

Model-based Inquiry (MBI) is a framework for designing NGSS-aligned science units around the construction, revision, and testing of models by groups of students as they seek to explain natural phenomena. Our approach helps students get hands-on with scientific practices throughout the unit with the ultimate goal of helping students create strong, science-based explanations about the world— therefore, explanation is the 'product' of the unit. Students will use scientific modeling to work together, share ideas, and build their explanations step by step. Along the way, they'll also engage in argumentation—using evidence from experiments to refine and improve their models and explanations. 

The template, developed and tested with secondary science teachers, provides support for the design and implementation of rigorous and equitable instruction through engagement with the practices of science such as modeling, explanation, and argumentation. Designed to support three dimensional learning, the planning template guides teachers through the “unpacking” of standards, choosing a phenomenon to anchor instruction, and the development of models and explanations that act as core sense-making activities throughout the unit.