A Hands-on Activity to Understand the Nature of Science and Authentic Scientific Inquiry in Large Laboratory Courses: What’s in the Box?

Integrating authentic research practices into introductory laboratory courses to prepare tomorrow's scientists has become increasingly prevalent over the past decade. However, an incomplete understanding of the nature of science (NOS) and authentic scientific inquiry (SI) precludes higher-level learning in undergraduate research experiences. In this article, we discuss a concise, low-cost, low-maintenance, hands-on activity-What's in the Box (WiB)-which is suitable for largeenrollment science courses at both the secondary and postsecondary levels and can help develop students' understanding of NOS and authentic SI. Analyses of the postlab reflective writing assignment showed a substantial increase in the students' appreciation for NOS and SI tenets; the top two NOS tenets were that scientific ideas are subject to change and that science demands evidence, identified in 20% and 18% of the reflective writings, respectively. The most appreciated authentic SI tenets were that SI is complex and iterative (reported in up to 32% of the reflective writings) and SI involves observation and exploration (reported in up to 12% of the reflective writings).