Inquiry-Based Learning

Readings and Resources

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What is Inquiry-Based Learning?

• Based on a question to make sense of the world. (Thinking to make meaning.)

• Students investigate solutions.

• Students add new knowledge as they investigate the question.

• Discuss discoveries with other students.

• Reflect on new knowledge.

• (The focus is on the process of inquiry and progress of skills, not the answer to the question.)

Types of Inquiry

• Structured: Teacher develops question and paths to investigate

• Guided: Teacher develops question, students guide investigation, and teacher keeps students on track by asking questions about the investigation and knew knowledge.

• Open: Students develop questions and investigation.

A Video:

What is inquiry-based learning? (6:32)

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More Resources

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1. Workshop: Inquiry-based learning: Concept to classroom

An old adage states: "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand." The last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning, says our workshop author Joe Exline ¹. Inquiry implies involvement that leads to understanding. Furthermore, involvement in learning implies possessing skills and attitudes that permit you to seek resolutions to questions and issues while you construct new knowledge.

"Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning." Individuals carry on the process of inquiry from the time they are born until they die. This is true even though they might not reflect upon the process. Infants begin to make sense of the world by inquiring. From birth, babies observe faces that come near, they grasp objects, they put things in their mouths, and they turn toward voices. The process of inquiring begins with gathering information and data through applying the human senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. (Continue reading here.)

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2. 20 questions to guide inquiry-based learning.

Recently we took at look at the phases of inquiry-based learning through a framework, and even apps that were conducive to inquiry-based learning on the iPad.

During our research for the phases framework, we stumbled across the following breakdown of the inquiry process for learning on 21stcenturyhsie.weebly.com (who offer the references that appear below the graphic). Most helpfully, it offers 20 questions that can guide student research at any stage, including:

What do I want to know about this topic? How do I know I know it? What kinds of resources might help? How do I know the info is valid? Does my research raise new questions? And, in a nod to digital and social media, How do I use media to express my message?

These stages have some overlap with a self-directed learning framework we’ve been developing that we will release soon. In the meantime, you may find the following graphic–and the embedded stages and questions–helpful in your planning, or to distribute to students as they make sense of what could be a new (for them) approach to learning. (Continue reading here.)

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3. What is IBL? Transformative experiences for students

Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) is a student-centered method of teaching Mathematics. At the college mathematics level one of the forms of IBL is the Modified Moore Method, named after R. L. Moore. Other forms of IBL are also recognized, which employ different course structures, including some group work, projects, and courses that are not theorem-proof based (e.g. statistics, courses for preservice teachers).

Boiled down to its essence IBL is a teaching method that engages students in sense-making activities. Students are given tasks requiring them to solve problems, conjecture, experiment, explore, create, and communicate... all those wonderful skills and habits of mind that Mathematicians engage in regularly. Rather than showing facts or a clear, smooth path to a solution, the instructor guides and mentors students via well-crafted problems through an adventure in mathematical discovery. Key components across effective IBL courses are (a) deep engagement in rich mathematical activities, and (b) opportunities to collaborate with peers (either through class presentations or group-oriented work). (Continue reading here.)

TED Talk: Finding Inspiration and Liberation Through Inquiry-Based Education (8:44)

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