About Environmental Inquiry
Environmental Inquiry (EI) is a website and curriculum series developed at Cornell University to help you conduct environmental science research. By using these resources, we hope you will:

1. Develop research skills,
2. Use these skills to design and conduct environmental science research projects,
3. Collaborate with other student scientists, and
4. Learn more about science content and the scientific process.

What are Protocols and Interactive Research?
EI is organized into two levels of inquiry, similar to those used by professional scientists.

1. Protocols are standard research methods. For example, you might learn how to conduct a bioassay using lettuce seeds to test the toxicity of chemical compounds.
2. Interactive Research. After you have learned one or more protocols, you are likely to come up with questions you would like to explore using these research techniques. We call this level Interactive Research because it gives you the chance to interact with other students as you discuss your ideas, design and conduct experiments, exchange feedback, and present your results to other students or interested community groups.