Some notes Regarding Inquiry-based Learning
Prepared Ron Bonnstetter
University of Nebraska
The book Inquiry and Learning is part of The Thinking Series produced by The College Board. The Inquiry and Learning volume was written by John W. Layman with George Ochoa and Henry Heikkinen. The comments below represent excerpts, summaries or sections pulled from original research and quoted in this book.
For example, on page 24 they cite Resnick who described:
I. Three interrelated aspects of learning include:
A. Learning is a process of knowledge construction, not of knowledge recording or absorption.
B. Learning is knowledge-dependent; people use current knowledge to construct new knowledge.
C. Learning is highly tuned to the situation in which it takes place.
II. Teachers of Inquiry-Centered Instruction: (Page 34)
A. encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative;
B. use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulatives, interactive, and physical materials;
C. when framing tasks, use cognitive terminology such as classify, analyze, predict, and create;
D. allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies, and alter content;
E. familiarize themselves with students’ understandings of concepts before sharing their own understandings of those concepts;
F. encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another;
G. encourage student inquiry by posing thoughtful, open-ended questions and asking students to question each other;
H. seek elaboration of students’ initial responses;
I. engage students in experiences that pose contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion;
J. allow time after posing questions;
K. provide time for students to construct relationships and create metaphors; and nurture students’ natural curiosity. (originally from Brooks and Brooks, 1993)
Keep in mind that the learning cycle is fundamental to this kind of instruction.
"In an inquiry-based classroom, it is frequently difficult to separate assessment activities from ongoing teaching." (page 22)
III. Teachers of science (p.5) guide and facilitate learning.
In doing this, teachers:
A. focus and support inquiries while interacting with students;
B. orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas;
C. challenge students to accept and share responsibility for their own learning;
D. recognize and respond to student diversity and encourage all students to participate fully in science learning;
E. encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science. (citing NSES, 1996, Teaching Standard B, 31)
"The previously dominant view of instruction as direct transfer of knowledge from teacher to student does not fit the current perspective. The present view places the learner’s constructive mental activity at the heart of all instructional exchanges." p.6 (George goes on to explain the need for intellectual framework, concepts for sense making, etc.)
IV. Science for All Americans describes some of the distinguishing features of science as (p.9)
A. The world is understandable.
B. Scientific ideas are subject to revision.
C. Scientific knowledge is durable.
D. Science can not provide complete answers to all questions.
E. Science is inquiry.
F. Science demands evidence.
G. Science is a blend of logic and imagination.
H. Science explains and predicts.
I. Scientists try to identify and avoid bias.
J. Science is not authoritarian.
K. Science is a complex social activity.
L. There are generally accepted ethical principles in the conduct of science.
M. Scientists participate in public affairs both as specialists and as citizens.
I would challenge each of us to read these statements and do two things. First work to describe what each statement would look like in practice, and two examine our own teaching in-light of present inquiry-based educational research.