Argument-Driven Inquiry began with a simple conviction: students learn science best when they get to do science — investigating real phenomena, arguing from evidence, and making sense of the world alongside their classmates. Founded by Dr. Victor Sampson and Krista Sampson and grounded in years of classroom research, ADI turned an instructional model into a full K–12 program of investigations, hands-on kits, and assessments that teachers can actually use. Today that work reaches students in classrooms across the country, and every new investigation we publish is built to do the same thing the first one did: give every student a real seat at the table where science gets figured out.
About us
STEM students actually do
Argument-Driven Inquiry makes three-dimensional science and engineering curriculum, pre-packed kits, and professional learning for Grades K to 12. Students investigate a phenomenon or solve a design problem, build an argument from their own data, defend it to their classmates, and write it up. Teachers get everything that takes to run it.
50+peer-reviewed articles behind the model
K to 12investigations, design challenges, camps, and assessments
NGSS and TEKSseparate editions, not one book relabeled
Austin, TXwhere every kit and toolbox is packed and shipped
What we make
Six lines that work together, and each works on its own.
Teacher and student books
Full investigation sequences with teacher notes, student handouts, and the standards each one covers. Separate NGSS and TEKS editions.
Investigation kits
Pre-packed and labeled for the investigation, not a bin of loose parts. Reuse the durable equipment, refill the consumables.
Engineering design challenges
Students are handed a problem with real constraints and criteria, build a solution, test it, and defend the design.
Engineering Camp in a Box
A full camp that arrives packed: challenges, stocked toolboxes, camper materials, and a facilitator guide, for K to 8 programs.
The Learning Hub
The teacher-facing digital side: lesson plans, slides, videos, and assessment tools. $5 per student per year.
Professional learning
Training that puts teachers through the same process their students will run.
Why argument-driven inquiry
Most lab activities tell students what will happen, then ask them to confirm it. Most build-a-bridge activities skip straight to building. Neither is what scientists or engineers do, and students know it.
THE PROBLEMConfirmation labs
Students follow steps to reach a known answer and learn that science is procedure.
THE SHIFTA real question
Students are given a phenomenon and a guiding question, and design their own way at it.
THE WORKArgument from evidence
They make a claim, back it with their own data, and justify why the data counts.
THE PROOFDefend and revise
Peers critique the argument, the report gets rewritten, and the reasoning gets sharper.
Two kinds of work, one habit of mind
An investigation answers a question. A design challenge solves a problem. Students argue from evidence in both.
Investigations
Start from a phenomenon and a guiding question. Students design a method, collect data, and argue for the best explanation.
Design challenges
Start from a problem with constraints and criteria. Students design, build, test, and argue for why their solution is the better one.
State Adoptions
TEA-approved for the Texas Grades 3 to 5 adoption
Alabama state adoption
Our story
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