What is Inquiry-Based Learning?

When I was first introduced to the concept of Inquiry-Based Learning I found it vaguely familiar. As I read about the concepts behind this learning strategy I was reminded of Constructivism. In the handout I printed from the website Concept to Classroom the brief history of Inquiry-Based Learning was explained. That is when I learned that both concepts were intertwined. In Inquiry-Based Learning the term is quite self explanatory, based on inquiry. Learning is believed to take place when the student is actually motivated enough, internally, to ask questions and actively partake in the learning process. What Inquiry-Based Learning does is give the student the means to generate their own questions and to find solutions to these questions. If the student isn’t interested in the subject matter being taught then there isn’t much hope that the concepts will stick. So this motivation is ignited by placing the student in the middle of it all. By getting them to actively participate through asking questions or answering them, the student is free to construct their knowledge as they see fit; in a manner easiest for them to retrieve it. That is the foundation for Inquiry-Based Learning. The second important feature of this concept is that it’s not all about pouring the information into the student’s brain. It’s not about memorizing facts and then being able to spew them out on command. It’s about learning to learn the proper way. It’s about gaining knowledge and experience about the learning process itself. Inquiry-Based Learning deals with a lot of questioning, from the student’s side and from the teacher’s side. But the main goal is getting the student to ask the right type of questions, ones that will get them on the right track to understanding the material being taught. Like I said before, it’s not about being able to answer one-dimensional questions. It’s about being able to sift through several different materials, media, and data and compiling a sufficient knowledgeable base to answer open and reflective questions. There are four types of questions used in an Inquiry-Based Learning environment, and these are: inference questions, interpretation questions, transfer questions, and questions about hypotheses. Inference questions aid in going beyond the immediately available information and promote finding clues to examine and discuss, justifying specific inferences and filling in missing information. Interpretation questions help the student understand the consequences of ideas or information; these questions lead them to a deeper level of perception about the subject matter. Transfer questions allow the student “to take their knowledge to new places.” The student transfers their knowledge into other scenarios or situations and is given the chance to work through it based on what they know. And finally, questions about hypotheses are used to make the student actively aware of what they are expecting the outcome will be. Predictive thinking is no longer a tool for science teachers; it can take place in all domains. When you begin to read a novel, more often than not, one is always curious of how the story will end and through this curiosity we predict, hypothesize, and imagine what the story might end like. And that is what Inquiry-Based Learning is all about. It is about actively participating in your learning process. Piecing together what you know, adding to it what you don’t, and truly embracing the act of learning.