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Reading Simone's post reminded me of the science curriculum I encountered during an internship over spring break. The curriculum is called "modeling" and it employs inquiry based techniques where a teacher rarely gives a student an answer or an explanation, but rather asks questions that are aimed to get a student's mind working as a scientist's would. This encourages students to become explorers rather than followers in the education process, and because a teacher won't give them a straightforward answer, students often look to their peers for guidance. Thus every student becomes a learner and a teacher. The most apparent manifestation of these roles occurs during what is called "whiteboarding." For this activity, the teacher will give the entire class a problem they have to solve. The class is broken up into groups of four, and each group shares a whiteboard on which they answer the problem. In general, each group of students will be able to solve the problem, even though no single student in the group can solve the problem individually. Additionally, each member of the group is suppose to be able to explain everything that is written on the whiteboard, thus ensuring that the entire group understands the solution. Sharing knowledge and learning through inquiry seems to facilitate understanding, retention, and the ability to apply and adapt familiar problem solving methods to solve unfamiliar problems.