Inquiry-Based Learning Through Image Processing

s in many states, educators in Pennsylvania school districts are strongly encouraged to incorporate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities and applications into the high school classroom. Incorporating topics on engineering into the high school curriculum poses a challenge for the educator, however, since most science textbooks and teacher resources (for levels prior to college) include little if any engineering content or activities [1]. Therefore, teachers must consult alternative resources if they intend to include engineering concepts in the classroom. With recent educational cuts and standardized testing stress, educators have little time to seek out such resources. Hands-on activities may well provide the much-needed play (inquiry) that is missing from the U.S. school system [2]. For example, researchers at Oulu University (Finland) have conducted a project to teach microcontrollers in grade school by letting students formulate their own problems to solve [3]. Similarly, as profiled in ASEE Prism Magazine [4], schools in Finland attribute their success in engaging students into STEM to well-trained teachers who design special hands-on activities as part of their regular teaching activities. The authors [4] note that “One girl, a Boston transplant, says she hates the idea of returning to her American school, where students never did anything in the lab and had more homework.” The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards call for teaching mathematics for understanding where students “actively build new knowledge from experience and prior knowledge.” They call for inquiry-based instruction whereby students are encouraged to investigate legitimate questions and hypothesize about solutions leading to the discussion and evaluation of potential solutions.