communicating for
LEARNERS
FALL #1 2011
featured in this issue
Inquiry-Based Instruction
Visionary Status
Hot 5
New Faculty Conference
Faculty Fellow
Inquiry-Based Instruction Inquiry Defined Inquiry-based instruction is a research-driven teaching technique designed to engage students deeply in a specific content area, to encourage reflection, and to improve research skills. It is the process of learning new ideas through participation in well-structured activities in which students develop and test hypotheses. In a sense, inquiry-based teaching is the “scientific method” applied not only to the sciences but to other disciplines as well. While inquiry courses do not share a single subject or theme, they do share a single method—that of presenting students with questions or problems and asking them to use a variety of research methods to answer the questions. Students are asked to analyze and synthesize information, examine evidence, and draw relevant conclusions. While inquiry-based instruction can be teacher-centered, with the instructor selecting the research question and directing the process closely, it is also possible to use inquiry in a highly learner-centered manner, in which the instructor identifies what the students already know about the topic and structures the research question based on students’ prior knowledge. Then students work somewhat independently, with the instructor primarily as a guide to resources. Benefits In their recent book, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (2011), Doug Thomas and John Seeley Brown say that inquiry must become the predominate form of learning in the twenty-first century because it enhances the learner’s tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge comprises sense learning, experience, emotional information—knowledge we gain by “watching, doing, experimenting, and simply absorbing knowledge from the things, events, and activities around us” (Thomas and Brown). The authors point out
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that in a stable, relatively unchanging culture, the educational system will value and convey explicit knowledge—information we can articulate and transfer verbally to others. (Encyclopedias are compendia of such knowledge.) “The twenty-first century, however, belongs to the tacit. In the digital world, we learn by doing, watching, and experiencing, “ say Thomas and Brown. In fact, they add, “When you focus on continually asking better questions, you rely on the tacit and use your imagination to delve deeper and deeper into the process of inquiry.” While inquiry-based instruction offers students a great deal of freedom to pursue their passions and interests, it is important to remember that the constraints of the method are as important as the freedom. Thus inquiry works best when students are given well-structured questions that serve as boundaries within which they can pursue their passions and interests. Inquiry does not work so well if students are set loose to ramble around the Internet in a vague quest for “information,” or if they don’t have a foundation of explicit knowledge. While inquiry teaching methods take time and effort to develop, the benefits to students are immense. They not only gain tacit knowledge, research skills, and reflective competence, they also use higher-order thinking skills such as synthesis, analysis, evaluation, and application. For those interested in learning more about inquiry-based pedagogy, the CTL’s pick as a good source is the Sheffield Companion to Inquiry-based Learning, which can be found online at http://www.shef.ac.uk/content/1/c6/10/88/63/Sheffield_IBL_ Companion.pdf