Learning through Inquiry

What, Why, How,

Inquiry learning is an intriguing and exciting way to teach. It involves students as active learners,
learning real life skills. Traditional student and teacher roles are changed to a collaborative
relationship rather than the sage on the stage approach. Inquiry learning is very adaptable and can be
used to different extents depending on desired learning outcomes.
Inquiry learning is based on wondering and the questions that naturally emerge when engaged in
active learning. In an elementary math class inquiry learning might look quite different than in a
science high school activity. It can be used in all disciplines and has been proven to be an effective
teaching strategy through numerous research projects.
Following is a summary of some of the aspects of Inquiry learning from a number of different sources.
This is meant to be a general guide without getting into all the details of different inquiry applications.
Start where you are comfortable (maybe just by adding some inquiry questions to a unit) and enjoy
watching your students become engaged self driven learners.

WHAT is Inquiry Learning?

Definition: Inquiry based approaches to education focus on student constructed learning as opposed to
teacher-transmitted information.
"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand." (Author unknown) The
last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning. 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.
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.
In general, the traditional approach to learning is focused on mastery of content, with less emphasis on
the development of skills and the nurturing of inquiring attitudes. The current system of education is
teacher centered, with the teacher focused on giving out information about "what is known." Students
are the receivers of information, and the teacher is the dispenser. Traditional classrooms tend to be
closed systems where information is filtered through layers to students. Lesson plans are used to
organize the various steps in the learning process for the whole-class approach. Questioning is
frequently fact based rather than open-ended.
The inquiry approach is more focused on using and learning content as a means to develop
information-processing and problem-solving skills. The system is more student centered, with the
teacher as a facilitator of learning. There is more emphasis on "how we come to know" and less on
"what we know." Students are more involved in the construction of knowledge through active
involvement. The more interested and engaged students are by a subject or project, the easier it will be
for them to construct in-depth knowledge of it. Learning becomes almost effortless when something
fascinates students and reflects their interests and goals.
(From Concept to Classroom http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html)
A Context for Inquiry

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Unfortunately, our traditional educational system has worked in a way that discourages the natural
process of inquiry. Students become less prone to ask questions as they move through the grade levels.
In traditional schools, students learn not to ask too many questions, instead to listen and repeat the
expected answers.
Some of the discouragement of our natural inquiry process may come from a lack of understanding
about the deeper nature of inquiry-based learning. There is even a tendency to view it as "fluff"
learning. Effective inquiry is more than just asking questions. A complex process is involved when
individuals attempt to convert information and data into useful knowledge. Useful application of
inquiry learning involves several factors: a context for questions, a framework for questions, a focus
for questions, and different levels of questions. Well-designed inquiry learning produces knowledge
formation that can be widely applied.
Inquiry classrooms are open systems where students are encouraged to search and make use of
resources beyond the classroom and the school. Inquiry learning is process rather than content driven
learning. Teachers who use inquiry replace lesson plans with facilitated learning plans that account for
slight deviations while still keeping an important learning outcome in focus. They meet on-target
questions with, "How do you suggest we investigate that question?"
Inquiry learning is not unstructured learning! Inquiry lessons can vary from student self directed
(usually still within a specified topic) to a more teacher directed process. Teachers determine the
overall topic and the learning objectives for the activity. Teachers may come up with a broad essential
question to focus student investigation or they may identify specific criteria for data collection or
analysis.
Perhaps a good way to summarize the important difference between traditional learning and inquiry
learning is: Traditional learning focuses more on LEARNING ABOUT THINGS, while inquiry
learning focuses more on LEARNING THINGS! Another useful way to contrast the two might be:
Thinking WHAT as opposed to thinking HOW. (Concept to Classroom website)
Inquiry learning is not new. Socrates taught by asking questions and the ensuing discussions. There
are many different ways to name and/or use inquiry in education. Inquiry involves
Constructivism and is often project based. Problem based, future problem solving, Guided and Open
Inquiry, and Scientific Inquiry relate to the same methodology.

WHY use Inquiry learning?

Inquiry based curriculum has been shown to develop independent and critical thinking skills, positive
attitudes and curiosity toward science and increased achievement in biological content (Hall &
McCudy, 1990), (Kyle et al, 1988), (Kyle et al, 1982), and (Shymansky, 1984). Leonard (1983)
showed that university students who completed a semester long introductory biology laboratory
designed on inquiry based approaches achieved 6% higher grades on biology content exams as
opposed to the control group which completed a more traditional information-transmission modeled
laboratory (from What is Scientific Inquiry? By David Wetzel)
Importance of Inquiry
Memorizing facts and information is not the most important skill in today's world. Facts change, and
information is readily available -- what's needed is an understanding of how to get and make sense of
the mass of data.

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 Educators must understand that schools need to go beyond data and information accumulation
and move toward the generation of useful and applicable knowledge.
Inquiry is not so much seeking the right answer -- because often there is none -- but rather
seeking appropriate resolutions to questions and issues. concept to classroom
Inquiry strategies enhance learning based on increased student involvement in the process.
Students choose learning based on a topic (usually within a set range) that is of interest to them.
This leads to active construction of meaningful knowledge rather than passive learning of facts.
Inquiry learning allows students to make some choices based on learning styles and multiple
intelligences.

Benefits: Students
Learn collaboration skills, (needed in the 21st century) between students and also between
students and teachers.
have the opportunity to use multiple learning styles and intelligences
use a constructivism approach where they are active participants in learning process rather than
passively accepting information from the teacher
become problem solvers rather than direction followers
learning is process orientated rather than product orientated
connect with real world problems and situations
apply skills of different disciplines math, language arts, social studies
propose questions, explanations and predictions
use tools to gather, analyze and interpret data
gain useful knowledge about the natural and human-designed worlds

HOW do you use Inquiry in teaching?

Almost any topic can become the foundation for an inquiry-based project by modifying an existing
lesson plan to an Inquiry approach.
Suppose you've decided on invasive species as a topic. Ask the kids what they would like to know
about invasive species, and generate questions based on student interest. (See Quescussions below.)
Have students help prioritize the questions to limit the scope of the inquiry. For integration, consider
the questions identified and map the questions to other areas of study.
The inquiry process involves theses basic steps
1. Explore and make an observation: I am curious about . . .
It surprised me that . . .
I wonder how this part affects another part of the system . . .
2. Question: meaningful questions are inspired by genuine curiosity.
Questions I could investigate are . . .
3. Investigate Follow that curious impulse and start the investigation process. Come up with a
plan to collect information that will help answer your question.
What information is needed? (sight, sound, feel smell)
How will information be collected? (record sheet, drawings, photos, video)
How will information be organized to answer your question?
4. Answer your question.

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 What does the information tell you?
Can you answer your question with this information?
What conclusions can you make?
5. Reflect take the time to look back at your question, the research you did, and the conclusions
you made.
Did you learn what you thought you would?
What surprising things did you learn?
What new questions do you now have?
What new information might you collect?
6. Discuss - How you will share what you learned with the rest of your class?
What do they need to know to share in your experience?
How will you present the information? (oral, video, or poster presentation, or a write-up)
Is there a way that you can get feedback on your process?

Quescussions: A shift from making statements to starting to wonder and ask questions. By
Paul Bidwell (University of Saskatchewan, English Department)
This is a discussion technique to get students thinking of questions as opposed to just answers.
The participants make points as in a normal discussion, but the use of statements is forbidden.
1. Provide a trigger (such as a poem, topic or theme).
2. Have a discussion with the whole class, with the strict rules below.
3. The discussion can only contain questions.
This is monitored by the class. (Participants yell "Statement" or make a sound if anyone makes
a statement rather than asking a question).
Do not raise your hand.
Open-ended questions are preferred to closed questions. "What", "Why" "How" rather than "Is
it true that...."
Try to ask questions about feeling as well as facts, try to ask simple knowledge questions as
well as sophisticated questions.
Humor is encouraged, sarcasm is discouraged.
A question does not have to be directly related to the previous question.
4. This forces students to reflect on questions and go one level deeper than statements.

Tips for Teachers

Start small! Add inquiry to a lesson that you are already teaching. Inquiry concepts can easily be
added to existing lesson plans by starting the lesson activity with an open-ended question rather than
definitions and explanations. Another way to start incorporating inquiry which you probably already
do, is to model your curiously or problem solving thinking out loud. I wonder why the character did
that. I wonder why I usually find caterpillars in the same place. I am curious why there are more birds
at one feeder and less at another.
Start with an open-ended question or demonstration (as opposed to beginning a lesson with
definitions and explanations).
Gather responses and questions from students with little comment or direction. Require
students to collaborate on designing experiments or methods of inquiry.
Have student teams conduct experiments or gather data.

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 Re-evaluate question based on new data and re-experiment or collect new data based on
revised question, share learnings
Pre-planning is important! Before going to the kids, determine any preliminary factors or
characteristics that must be true in order to achieve your larger goals or plans. Consider factors
such as scope, the amount of time you'll spend over how many sessions, relationships to other
projects, topical focus, age appropriateness, and skills you want to use, resources, media and
collaboration techniques. Make any decisions up front that you have to, but let your students
decide as much as possible.
Identify skills you want your students to learn. Some basic skills used in inquiry learning
include: collaborating, observing, classifying and sequencing, stating problems or questions,
problem solving, designing experiments or investigations, data collection, analysis and
interpretation of data, defining terms, creating a hypothesis, predicting, inferring, and
communicating.
Brainstorm: Assuming the widest range of possibilities, start a discussion in class to find out
what the kids are interested in. Ask some broad questions about their interests. Try some simple
mapping activities to record the ideas they suggest and to begin winnowing them down to one
or a few. Remember, your role is to guide them toward achieving learning objectives and
mastery of skills that they need. If they pick the questions that start the inquiry, they'll have no
end of such questions, even if you subtly limit the parameters. In most cases, you'll be better off
having the whole class work on a single concept or breaking up into teams to work on
particular questions, aspects or executions of that theme or idea. Just make sure that they feel
ownership of the topic and truly care about it.
Work in teams. Avoid letting individuals work alone on totally unconnected projects. It's not
that there's anything wrong with that, but the kids won't get the advantage of developing
collaboration skills and you'll be spread awfully thin trying to help them all on such disjointed
topics.
Assessment is focused on determining the progress of skills development in addition to content
understanding. Inquiry learning is concerned with in-school success, but it is equally concerned
with preparation for life-long learning.

Sources and Resources:

Concept to Classroom: Inquiry-Based Learning
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html What it is, how it differs from
traditional, benefits, ideas for use in education.
The Exploratorium
http://www.exploratorium.org/
Housed within San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, the Exploratorium has a collection of 650 science,
art, and human perception exhibits. It helps promote inquiry-based learning not only in the sciences but
also in the arts. A great site for examples of inquiry method in teaching and learning.
Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of Scientific Processes
December 2007, Developed by Pacific Education Institute
http://www.fishwildlife.org/pdfs/Field%20Investigation%20Guide.pdf
Inquiry Based Approaches to Science Education: Theory and Practice
http://www.brynmawr.edu/biology/franklin/InquiryBasedScience.html By Wilfred A Franklin, Bryn
Mawr, Biology Professor. Descriptions, links to web pages

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Inquiry Page: a consortium of educators sponsored by University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
http://inquiry.illinois.edu/inquiry/definition.php definitions, examples, lesson plans and other
resources
NSTA Position Statement: Scientific Inquiry
http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/inquiry.aspx
Problem-Based Learning Inquiry Basics
http://www.udel.edu/pbl/cte/jan95-what.html
Problem-based learning is an increasingly popular teaching approach that promotes quality thinking
using the inquiry method, as explained by this article from The Center for Teaching Effectiveness,
University of Delaware.
The Process of Scientific Inquiry
http://bumbleboosters.unl.edu/scientific_inquiry.htm
Scientific Inquiry http://www.pwcs.edu/curriculum/sol/scientific.htm
Thirteen Ed online, Concepts to Classrooms, Inquiry Based Learning Workshop
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html
What is Scientific Inquiry? By David Wetzel
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-Scientific-Inquiry?&id=1223526
YouthLearn Initiative sponsored by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC),
http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/planning/lesson-planning/how-inquiry/how-inquiry Inquiry
learning series including questioning
What is a good Inquiry question?
http://www.mcmaster.ca/cll/inquiry/good.inquiry.question.htm
Inquiry by Teachers
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/classroom/connect/greene.html

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Inquiry Questions
There are numerous categories of questions depending on what the purpose is for the question.
Depending on the situation and reason for asking questions, you will ask students different types of
questions.

We are focusing on Inquiry questions for this course. Inquiry questions are open ended and
researchable. They are questions to which the students do not already know the answer. They should
have a clear focus and be reasonable questions to answer preferably of interest to the students.
Frequently the process of answering one inquiry question will generate another one. Inquiry questions
encourage students to wonder, think, observe, classify, measure, predict, infer, interpret, analyze,
evaluate and communicate.

Examples of Inquiry Questions

What did you do next? How did you figure it out?

What strategies do you see being used? What would happen if ________________?
How could you prove that? How did you think about that?
Who would like to share their thinking? How could you prove that?
Does that always work? What do you think would happen if _____?
Why did you do that? Tell me more. What does this make you think of?
Who used this strategy to solve it? In what ways are these different?
Who started the problem the same way? In what ways are these the same?
How does this relate to ___________? What materials did you use?
Have we ever solved a problem like this How was that strategy efficient, quick and
before? simple?
What could you do instead? What do you feel, see, hear, taste, smell?
What does it look like? How did you do that?
What does it remind you of? Tell me what it looks like.
What does it feel like? How are you going to do that?
What can you do next time? Is one object longer/shorter than another?
What can you tell me about it? What do you call the things you are using?
Which one do you have more of? What you could do with it?
What will you do next after you finish that? How do you know?
Is there anything else you could do/use? What is it made of?
What are some different things you could try? What can you tell me about the things you
have?

Another Way to Look at Questions

Following is a brief explanation of other ways to categorize questions. Inquiry questions can fall into a
number of these categories.
Factual Questions are used to gather information. They are questions that you can usually answer by
consulting a book, website or local expert.
What is the name of this tree or shrub?

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 How tall does this tree grow?
Where does this tree grow?
What color do the leaves turn in the fall?
Descriptive or Observational Questions are used when you want to focus students on what
something looks like or acts like. These questions help to increase student attention to detail as they
practice their skills of observation.
What does it look like? (e.g., size, shape, color)
What does it feel like? (e.g. texture, temperature)
What does it smell like? What does it sound like?
When do the leaves turn color in the fall? Do all the leaves turn the same color?
Is each fall leaf a single color?
What animals use this tree for their habitat?
What do twigs look like after the leaves have fallen off?
Comparative Questions compare similar things
How do the number of brook trout in the creek from last year compare to the number of brook trout
in the creek this year?
How do our chemical tests and biological samples compare to the state standards?
Which species of tree grows the fastest?
Which buds become flowers and which buds become leaves?
Are deciduous or broadleaf evergreen leaves stronger?
Correlative Questions consider how one thing relates to another
How does the number of garlic mustard plants per square foot relate to the amount of sunlight in an
area?
Is fall leaf color dependent on the number of sunny fall days?
How is hot weather related to disease in pine trees?
How does water pollution impact the number of frogs in a pond?
Essential Questions are questions that require time to answer them.
How do trees alter climate?
What are the physical characteristics of the stream?
What are the chemical conditions of the stream (dissolved oxygen, pH, etc.)?
What are the percentages for the different macro invertebrate feeding groups (scrapers, shredders,
collectors, predators)?
Resources:
What is a good Inquiry question? (Dale Roy, Erika Kustra, Paola Borin, 2003)
http://www.mcmaster.ca/cll/inquiry/good.inquiry.question.htm
Scientific Inquiry http://www.pwcs.edu/curriculum/sol/scientific.htm
Inquiry by Teachers, Ash, Greene, & Austin, March/April 2000 issue (vol. 13, Issue 4) of Connect,
a publication of Synergy Learning http://www.exploratorium.edu/
Questions for Science Exploration http://tlc.ousd.k12.ca.us/~acody/inquiryquery.html
Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of Scientific
Processes
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/nonpwdpubs/media/field_investigation_guide.pdf

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Using Field Investigations is another way to integrate inquiry into your curriculum. Following is a useful table comparing
different forms of field investigations. From: Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of
Scientific Processes http://www.fishwildlife.org/pdfs/Field%20Investigation%20Guide.pdf

Three Types of Field Investigations

Essential What defines my environment? What is a healthy environment? What is humans relationship to the environment? How can our
Questions community sustain our environment? What is my role in the preservation and use of environmental resources?
Descriptive Comparative Correlative
Formulate
How many? How frequently? Is there a difference between groups,
Investigative Is there a relationship between two variables?
When? What happened? conditions, times, or locations?
Question
Identify
Identify geographic scale of investigation (e.g., riparian corridor or river watershed) Identify time frame of the investigation (e.g.,
Setting within
season, hour, day, month, year)
a System
Identify Choose a measured variable in at least two
Choose measurable or Choose two variables to be measured together
Variables of different (manipulated variable) locations,
observable variables. and tested for a relationship.
Interest times, organisms, or populations.
Multiple measurements over time or location in order to improve system representation (model) Individual measurement is repeated
Collect and if necessary to improve data accuracy. Record and organize data into table(s) or other forms.
Organize Data Describe how sampling, measurement, observations were consistent for the two or more locations,
times or organisms (controlled variables) and was random and representative of the site.
Means, medians, ranges, percentages, estimations calculated when appropriate.
Organize results in graphic and/or written forms and maps using statistics where appropriate.
Analyze Data Typical representations of the data to
Typical representations of the data to build descriptive and comparative models:
demonstrate correlations upon which models are
charts, line plots, bar graphs, maps.
developed: scatter plots, r-values.
Answer the investigative question. Use data to support an explanation.
Use Evidence
Limit conclusion to the specific study site. Compare data to standards.
to Support a
Conclusion Does the data summary answer Does the evidence support the prediction or hypothesis?
the investigation question?
How does the data compare to other similar systems/models?
Discussion What factors might have impacted my research?
How do my findings inform the essential questions and/or understanding of the system?
What are my new questions? What other data do I need? What action should be taken? Why?