Inquiry-based learning is a learning process that engages students by making real-world
connections through exploration and high-level questioning. It is an approach to learning that
encourages students to engage in problem-solving and experiential learning. There is so much
happening in our world that is worth our learners discovering and experiencing.
From a teacher point-of-view, inquiry-based teaching focuses on moving students beyond
general curiosity into the realms of critical thinking and understanding. You must encourage
students to ask questions and support them through the investigation process, understanding
when to begin and how to structure an inquiry activity.
Unfortunately, our traditional educational system has worked in a way that discourages the
natural process of inquiry. Students become less prone to ask questions as they move through the
grade levels. In traditional schools, students learn not to ask too many questions, instead to listen
and repeat the expected answers.
Some of the discouragement of our natural inquiry process may come from a lack of
understanding about the deeper nature of inquiry-based learning. There is even a tendency to
view it as "fluff" learning. Effective inquiry is more than just asking questions. A complex
process is involved when individuals attempt to convert information and data into useful
knowledge. Useful application of inquiry learning involves several factors: a context for
questions, a framework for questions, a focus for questions, and different levels of questions.
Well-designed inquiry learning produces knowledge formation that can be widely applied
Importance of Inquiry
Memorizing facts and information is not the most important skill in today's
world. Facts change, and information is readily available -- what's needed is
an understanding of how to get and make sense of the mass of data.
Educators must understand that schools need to go beyond data and
information accumulation and move toward the generation of useful and
applicable knowledge . . . a process supported by inquiry learning. In the
past, our country's success depended on our supply of natural resources.
Today, it depends upon a workforce that "works smarter."
Through the process of inquiry, individuals construct much of their
understanding of the natural and human-designed worlds. Inquiry implies a
"need or want to know" premise. Inquiry is not so much seeking the right
answer -- because often there is none -- but rather seeking appropriate
resolutions to questions and issues. For educators, inquiry implies emphasis
on the development of inquiry skills and the nurturing of inquiring attitudes
or habits of mind that will enable individuals to continue the quest for
knowledge throughout life.
Inquiry-based teaching is a pedagogical approach that invites students
to explore academic content by posing, investigating, and answering
questions. Also known as problem-based teaching or simply as ‘inquiry,’ this
approach puts students’ questions at the center of the curriculum, and
places just as much value on the component skills of research as it does on
knowledge and understanding of content. Research on inquiry-based
teaching has often focused on its application in science and math education,
but the approach is equally well-suited to the teaching of the humanities.
Likewise, some believe that an inquiry-based approach can’t be implemented
until late in a student’s school career, but the process of teaching and
learning through personal investigation is appropriate for students from
preschool through graduate school. The role of the teacher in an inquiry-
based classroom is quite different from that of a teacher in a conventional
classroom. Instead of providing direct instruction to students, teachers help
students generate their own content-related questions and guide the
investigation that follows. Because of the role of the teacher in an inquiry-
based classroom is unconventional, it is sometimes misunderstood.
Administrators, parents, or even students may not recognize the hard work
that goes into planning and implementing an inquiry-based approach—in
fact, it may seem that teachers “aren’t doing anything” as students struggle
to formulate questions and seek out answers. Nothing could be further from
the truth. When teachers choose to use an inquiry-based approach, they
commit to provide rich experiences that provoke students’ thinking and
curiosity; to plan carefully-constructed questioning sequences; to manage
multiple student investigations at the same time; to continuously assess the
progress of each student as they work toward their solution or final product;
and to respond in the moment to students’ emerging queries and
discoveries. There are strong arguments for choosing an inquiry-based
approach over more conventional models of direct instruction. An inquiry-
based curriculum develops and validates ‘habits of mind’ that characterize a
life-long learner: It teaches students to pose difficult questions and fosters
the desire and skills to acquire knowledge about the world. Students are
given opportunities to take ownership of their own learning, a skill necessary
for one to succeed in college and in most professional settings. Additionally,
an inquiry-based approach allows students to draw connections between
academic content and their own lives, which can be particularly important
for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
