Ideas

IDEA #4: Student-Centered Inquiry

Learning Intention

When student inquiry drives the learning, students are more likely to engage with content, recall content, and connect their learning to their own lives. The skills that students gain in pursuing and problem-solving based on their curiosities will be more applicable to their futures than if they had been recipients of passive learning. Inquiry may be supported in project-based learning, research and group projects, experiments, and debates.

Flipped Classroom Model

• Assign passive learning (readings, lectures, etc.) as homework.
• Use in-class time for active learning.
• Replace long lectures with activities where students explore, discuss, or create.
• Prioritize the benefits of student-peer and student-instructor interaction when in the classroom.

Inquiry-Based Learning

• Instead of teaching students the answers, present them with problems for them to solve.
• Present students with complex problems, questions, or scenarios/situations.
• Guide students as they:
  • Consider
  • Discuss and collaborate
  • Research and practice information literacy
  • Problem-solve
  • Articulate their learning and opinions
• Encourage multiple possible solutions rather than one "correct" answer.

The 5E Inquiry Cycle

1. Engage with a problem
2. Explore the problem and new ideas related to it
3. Explain the problem
4. Elaborate using prior and new knowledge
5. Evaluate learning

Levels of Inquiry (University of Melbourne)

Scaffold inquiry, starting with more instructor guidance/less student independence, to accustom students to using their agency in the inquiry process.

1. Confirmation inquiry (minimal student exploration)
2. Structured inquiry (prompts and process provided by the instructor)
3. Guided inquiry (prompts provided by the instructor)
4. Open inquiry (student-led prompts and process)

Resources