Inquiry Based Instruction

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Definition

Inquiry-based instruction is a student-centered approach where the instructor guides the students through questions posed, methods designed, and data interpreted by the students. Inquiry-based learning is an approach to learning that emphasizes the student’s role in the learning process.

Types

Confirmation Inquiry — You give students a question, its answer and the method of reaching this answer. Their goal is to build investigation and critical-thinking skills, learning how the specific method works.
Structured Inquiry — You give students an open question and an investigation method. They must use the method to craft an evidence-backed conclusion.
Guided Inquiry — You give students an open question. Typically in groups, they design investigation methods to reach a conclusion.
Open Inquiry — You give students time and support. They pose original questions that they investigate through their own methods, and eventually present their results to discuss and expand.

When to Use

To spark curiosity
When traditional methods of instruction won't work
When you want to increase analysis and synthesis of information

https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/inquiry-based-learning-definition-benefits-strategies/

Benefits

Enhances learning experiences for students
Teaches skills needed for all learning areas
Fosters curiosity in students
Deepens students understanding of topics
Allows students to take ownership of their own learning
Increases engagement with material
Creates a love of learning

Steps

1. Developing open ended question/Interaction of Student

Student-to-material. This material is ideally obtained through formal (i.e., research) and informal (e.g., reading, social and digital media, collaboration) means. It can be modeled or supplemented by teacher-provided materials
Student-to-peer. This interaction is chosen by teacher or student, informed by need for information and perspective
Student-to-expert (experts within relevant fields at accessible levels)
Student-to-media (digital, text, pure data, etc.)

Teacher Models: Models curiosity, thinks-aloud when interacting with disparate media, asks probing questions, withholds evaluative statements, provides exemplars, monitors and encourages student thinking habits

2. Clarification

Thinking patterns are both inward and reflective, and outward and communicated. In that way, students both reflect on their own knowledge, while beginning to identify possible pathways forward.
Teacher Models: Offers non-evaluative and frequent feedback; provides relevant graphic organizers and other ways to “frame” student thinking; asks probing questions that focus on student thinking: what they know and why they think they know it;

3. Questioning

They often move back and forth between phases, and new skills and understandings can be obtained in frustratingly small increments.
Inquiry-based learning is more about the process, tone, and instincts of learning than other “tidier” academic forms, which can require both students and teachers to adjust their measures of progress, quality, and success.
Teacher Models: Models questioning, thinks-aloud in revising irrelevant or otherwise flawed questions; models use of concept mapping tool to analyze thinking; hosts Socratic seminars

4. Design

At this final stage of the inquiry-based learning process, learners are focused on design.
Design of solutions to address problems within a manageable scale
Design of logical and curiosity-based applications of current understanding
Design of next steps to extend their own learning pathway
Teacher Models: Creates “conditions and means” for collaboration; identifies areas for revision, reflects back on entire process (i.e., “how we get to this point”)

Inquiry-Based DiscussionStudents in Karrie Fansler's 7th grade English Language Arts class participate in an inquiry-based discussion on "To Kill a Mockingbird." Prior to the discussion, students answer text-based analysis questions and discuss them in small groups. During the discussion, the teacher asks questions to promote students' critical thinking and monitors student participation.

Inquiry-Based Teaching: Discussing Non-FictionPlacing value on students' ideas and using these ideas as a basis for discussion, inquiry based discussions are a focus of instruction at the Urban Academy in Manhattan, New York. Examining several primary sources about slavery, students examine different points of view and probe deeper into the perspective represented by each non-fiction text.

Table for 22: A Real-World Geometry ProjectSixth grade teacher Suney Park begins by asking her class to imagine that all 22 students want to sit together at a rectangular table. Suney asks students to figure out both the biggest and smallest table they could sit at. Suney explains how this problem changed students' understanding of area, helping them to see area as "the space inside." The entire class then works together to build models of the largest table and the smallest table, having each student become part of the perimeter of the tables.

Resources

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