Interdisciplinary (99) A major barrier to the incorporation of inquiry in introductory science courses is faculty believe that doing so requires a full-scale transformation of pedagogy, which is regarded as impractical. This project develops materials and methods that directly address this barrier by introducing inquiry into the undergraduate laboratory in an accessible manner. The project has intellectual merit by adapting a successful mode of faculty development to convert cookbook laboratories into inquiry-based exercises. A key feature of the laboratory materials is that they explicitly model the scientific literature as a guide to student investigation. The project team includes faculty and future faculty from a doctoral extensive institution; a private liberal arts college; an urban doctoral intensive institution; and an urban community college. The project has broad impact on undergraduate STEM education for majors and non-majors in most types of public higher education institutions. Fifty faculty and future faculty participate in the project and their teaching impacts over 3000 students. Educational research allied with the program evaluates and enhances the incorporation of these inquiry methods. The partnership among the several institutions models the cooperative reform of STEM education by involving many faculty in materials development.
