FROM THE EXPERTS
emPowereD speaks to three of our Principal Master Teachers from the Academy of Singapore Teachers to find out what Inquiry based Learning is and how it can be used as a pedagogy in our schools.
PMTT/Chemistry
What is IBL?
IBL is a constructivist approach to teaching and learning to explore a problem, an issue, a phenomenon or an idea. In an inquiry process, teachers are activators and facilitators of learning to achieve intended student learning outcomes. IBL provides students with purposeful, rich and dynamic experiences that engage them to think more critically and creatively about content. At the same time, IBL motivates students by drawing on their natural curiosity and love of learning through exploring instead of merely observing and listening (Coffman, 2017)
What are the benefits of IBL?
IBL fosters students’ curiosity, voice, and agency for them to be
self directed lifelong learners; informed and concerned citizens of good character; and, active contributors for the nation and the world
The use of IBL in various subject disciplines helps to develop 21st century competencies of
collaboration, communication and information skills,
critical and inventive thinking, civic literacy, global awareness, and cross cultural skills.
"Inquiry-based learning is constructivist at its core, championing the notion that knowledge is actively constructed by the student as an empowered agent of his or her learning."
There is a continuum of inquiry learning, from teacher led (structured) to student led (open ended) inquiry, with semi structured types of inquiry in the middle (Marschall & French, 2018) All types of inquiry champion active construction of knowledge on the part of the students by empowering students as agents of their learning What distinguishes one type of inquiry from another is the amount of teacher direction, and consequently student agency, that exists in the design of units and learning engagements.
What is important is to focus on students’ learning needs, readiness level and preferences when designing learning experiences in IBL Students can be gradually inducted into the process of inquiry with close guidance and scaffolding from teachers The scaffolding incrementally develops their inquiry skills for them to become more proficient and confident in performing inquiry independently.
"All types of inquiry champion active construction of knowledge on the part of the students by empowering students as agents of their learning."
Is IBL suitable for every student?
In this video, PMTT Andrew shares with us
how teachers can use IBL to meet desired learning outcomes; and, how IBL can be effectively used by teachers in History lessons.
More online resources on IBL
A group of teachers at Raffles Girls' School share with SingTeach how Socratic Questioning can be used to promote critical thinking in IBL lessons.
Read about the common obstacles to implementing IBL, and how to overcome them.
"Socratic questioning is one of the most powerful methods to promote critical thinking through discussion from questioning between students and between students and the teacher (Paul, 1993)."
