A summary from Trevor Mackenzie's work in his book, Inquiry Mindset, 2018.
Inquiry-Based Learning...
Nurtures student passion and talents
Empowers student voice and honours student choice
Increases student motivation and engagement
Fosters curiosity and a love of learning
Teaches grit and perseverance and the qualities of a growth mindset, as well as self regulation (all part of the Core Competencies in BC curriculum)
Makes research meaningful and develops strong research skills
Deepens understanding and allows students to practice going beyond memorization of facts
Shows the importance of asking good questions (essential to Science/Social Studies curriculum)
Enables students to take ownership of their learning and reach their goals
Pushes students to solve the problems of tomorrow in their classroom today
(Taken from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-inquiry-based-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron)
1. Question-Building: Students develop questions that they are hungry to answer. Have them develop a problem statement that requires them to pitch their question using a constructed response, further inquiry, and citation.
2. Research and Data Collection: Research the topic using time in class. It’s crucial to have some of this be classwork so students have access to the head researcher in the room, the teacher, and access to materials like technological devices, library books, the Teacher-Librarian, field trips and virtual tours, special guests and expert guests.
3. Project Design, Build, Presentation: Have students present what they’ve learned. Students should create and present a culminating artifact. When I have my students present what they’ve learned, I use a rubric with “Able to Teach” as the acme of what to reach for. After all, many people can understand content, but can they communicate it?
4. Reflection: Ask students to reflect on what worked about the process and what didn’t. Reflection is key. And it isn’t just about asking them to think back on their opinion of the topic. It’s about reflecting on the process itself. That’s where you can work in metacognition—thinking about thinking. Have students focus on how they learned in addition to what they learned.