Moving Beyond the Science Kit: Explorations of Electricity & Atoms

I really liked this reading because it provided a clear non-example of inquiry juxtaposed* with an awesome example of guided inquiry! "Ms. Travis" still used the same BBW kit, plus some extra supplies, still arrived at the same vocabulary, and used inquiry-driven exploration of electricity. Even her classroom managment was better - her activities allowed for maximum participation whereas "Ms. Stone's" students were fidgety and bored because only a few students could use the materials at a time.

For the sake of practice, and because I really thought of this while I was reading: Did Ms. Travis's BBW unit really follow the 5 essential features of inquiry?
Engage in a science-oriented question: Yes, students were encouraged to explore how flashlights work, and then asked if they could light a bulb with one battery and one wire.
Priority to evidence: It's hard for me to tell, because trial and error is certainly a form of evidence, but they weren't using any outside resources. They did experiment with what worked and what didn't, so I think evidence was rather vital to the process. (Just not labeled as "evidence" or "data.")
Formulate explanations: Students determine that unscrewing a bulb or disconnecting a wire in a series circuit makes all the lights go out. They explain this by concluding that the pathway (circuit) must be broken.
Evaluate explanations: I don't think the students really evaluated their explanations. I guess evaluation happened, but in the form of the teacher confirming explanations as correct or incorrect.
Communicate & justify proposal. Students jumped to the next step (or the first step again) of inquiry - asking new questions. Did they orally communicate explanations when Ms. Travis helped them assign terminology to their new knowledge?

I would call this successfully meeting the 5 essential features of inquiry, but that's also because I think it looks like inquiry, and smells like inquiry and barks like inquiry. But true Inquiry is all or nothing with these 5. I am still trying to determine if I am being to lenient with the qualifications or if I am actually figuring out that inquiry can still be accomplished even if the teacher is providing some of the steps.

*I had to work it in sometime.