emPowereD Issue 7

EDITOR'SNOTE

Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) is a learning experience that engages students through exploration and higher-order questioning to inquire into an issue in order to co-construct knowledge or learn a new concept. It is an approach to learning that encourages students to engage in problem-solving and experiential learning.

IBL is grounded on the philosophy of John Dewey, who believed that education begins with the curiosity of the learner, and that learning and researching take place at the same time. Inquiry in the classroom places the responsibility for learning on the students and encourages them to arrive at an understanding of concepts by themselves. It is also an approach that nurtures students’ voice in learning, while asking meaningful questions and using evidence to address complex problems. Dewey believed that exploring ways of stimulating inquiry –thinking about the whys and hows of life, and about what to do and value – was the key task of the teacher.

Through this issue, we hope teachers will develop a deeper understanding of IBL approaches and find out how IBL can be effectively used in class. We hope you'll enjoy reading about the insights and experiences of the Principal Master Teachers from the Academy of Singapore Teachers, as well as teacher leaders from across subject disciplines.

JohnDewey

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

Irene Tan

PMTT/History

Andrew Anthony

PMTT/Pri Maths

Cynthia Seto

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."

Trevor Mackenzie, inspired by Fitchman, 2011

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)."

PD TRANSFORMERS

From language and mathematics, to physical education, music and art, teacher leaders from various primary and secondary schools share their IBL practices.

At Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School (KCPSS), students are encouraged to develop the ability to learn, and not just to do. When students learn through inquiry, they begin to regard learning as a process instead of focusing on completing a product

In the past, reading lessons meant working on comprehension practice papers. Now, reading lessons are guided by the IBL approach, which begins with students identifying the topic they want to inquire and the questions they have about the topic before reading a text.

They set their own learning goals and plan their process of inquiry As students read, they focus on the reading process, such as comparing and contrasting key ideas in the text. They then discuss the steps they went through to arrive at their interpretations.

When students are agents of their learning, they develop the skills, learner strategies, attitudes and dispositions to learn and perform their tasks effectively. This motivation to learn contributes significantly to the development of other 21st century competencies

Mdm Ravathi Velayuthan, Lead Teacher, shares her school's IBL practice in the English Language.

Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School: IBL in the Teaching of English Language

When teachers planned a lesson using the IBL

students were given

opportunities to engage in

They collaborated and built on one another's ideas to co

02.

Exploratorytalkwasfactoredinatthebeginningofeachunitofthe lowersecondarycurriculumtocontextualisethelearning. Teachersdesignedtasksthatencouragedstudentstoco-construct meaningandfacilitatedexploratorytalkthroughtaskframing,teaching talkmovesandputtinginstructuresforcollaborativelearning. Taskswereframedinaprocess-centricmanner,forexample,'Thegoal ofourdiscussionistoexplorethethemeofgrowingup,andalso practisehowtoaskforaswellasprovideelaborationonourideas.'

Teachers used a variety of tools to teach talk moves, such as the Let's Talk cards and SLS Interactive Thinking Tools to generate independent thought on the topic before the discussion.

Teachers explicitly modelled the skills and learner strategies during each language learning phase. Questioning skills were modelled to encourage students to think deeply and extend their thinking through effective questioning.

04.

To develop learner self efficacy, peer and self feedback were used. Teachers scaffolded the process through modelling the thinking and reflection so that students could do the same Students evaluated their own and their peers' learning using checklists and rubrics, as well as learning logs to reflect on the process of their learning.

Strengthening Teachers' Understanding of the Application of IBL in Teaching and Learning

One of the primary aims was to shift the teachers' belief system and strengthen their understanding of the application of IBL in teaching and learning The process of describing, informing, probing and reconstructing the learning is critical in inquiry.

The team's conversations were guided by the English Language Syllabus and English Language teaching and learning processes and principles, CLLIPS and ACoLADE. The teachers worked together to unpack the syllabus into tangible learning objectives, learning outcomes and success criteria To develop their competencies in designing process centric tasks and leading questions to pique students' curiosity, a subject based PLT was formed to build collective understanding.

At the start, the teachers were not confident of their ability in facilitating inquiry through exploratory talk They have become so used to prescribing learner strategies that they felt apprehensive about empowering learners to think independently.

Hence, they started on collective teacher efficacy by building teachers' belief that they can affect student achievement This prompted a strenghts based approach in which teachers shared evidence of effective discussions in their own classrooms. They also challenged themselves to harness the use of technological tools (e g , PearDeck) to enhance exploratory talk

Scan or click on the QR code to view the animation video on 'Supporting InquiryBased Learning in the EL Classroom'.

"Teachers have begun to realise their identity as 'educators', and not 'generators' of results. There is more to teaching, learning and assessment, than preparing for tests and examinations."

New Town Primary School: IBL in the Teaching of Mathematics

New Town Primary School (NTPS) strives to build in their students, a strong foundation in mathematical concepts and skills, as well as develop mathematical thinking, reasoning, communication and application through problem solving One of the instructional strategies to achieve this mission is IBL.

Using a problem situation and an inquiry oriented approach, IBL allows the development and attainment of new concepts and skills Teachers lead and guide students to explore, investigate and sense make on their own, to build new ideas and knowledge based on prior as well as existing ideas and knowledge.

The first step in any inquiry based lesson is to put forth a rich task or problem statement which contributes to the conceptual development of students, promotes the skilful application of mathematics and encourages student engagement and discourse

In NTPS, dedicated time is set aside for teachers to come together during PLC sessions to brainstorm mathematics topics and craft interesting problems which lend themselves well to IBL The problem crafting process is an iterative one in which teachers attempt to improve the problem statement to better address the learning objectives.

Mr Low Yew Fai, Lead Teacher, shares his school's IBL practice in Mathematics.

During PLC

the

another's

experiences to craft the

plan,

Whenidentifyingthetask,teachersaskthemselvesthefollowing

Doesthetaskprovidestudentswiththeopportunitytothink,reason andproblem-solvefrommultipleperspectives?

Arethereresourcesthatcanbeprovidedtostudentsthatwillensure thatallstudentsareabletoaccessthetask?

Whatevidenceistheretoshowthatstudentshavemetthelearning goalthroughworkingonthetask?

Prior to lesson implementation, teachers envision potential student responses (both correct and incorrect), representations, procedures and interpretations Collaboratively, they come up with various questions to guide students' thought processes and remove possible roadblocks which might hinder their learning.

Revoicing "You are saying...Is that right?"

"Can you repeat what he/she just said in your own

Reasoning "Do you agree or disagree? Why?"

The use of Talk Moves as questioning techniques are used to encourage participation and engagement with mathematics content and reasoning The following Talk Moves are typically used in a mathematics classroom: words?" said?"

"Do you have anything to add on to what he/she has

Waiting "Take your time Let's give everyone 2 more minutes

to think this through "

03.

During lesson enactment, teachers will deploy more conceptually oriented questions which help students process the given information within the task and facilitate their thinking, allowing them to think more deeply about the problem.

Students work on questions that are differentiated according to their readiness levels and these questions are used to address different learning needs in an academically diverse classroom.

For example, in a primary four lesson on Rectangles, the following prompts were used to faciliate different profiles of students to describe the properties of rectangles:

How do you identify that a shape is a rectangle?

What are the tools you can use from the mathematical set to confirm that it is a rectangle?

How do you use the tools (e.g., set square, protractor) in the mathematical set to support your idea?

For example, what do you observe about opposite sides?

If you claim that the lines are of equal length, how do you show that?

Students learn to connect with the resources and participate more actively in the learning process, thereby boosting their confidence.

Withstudentsofdifferent readinesslevelspairedupto providesupport,students contributetothelearningof theirpeers,andatthesame time,takechargeoftheir ownlearning,thereby buildingacommunitywithin theclass. Throughrecordingtheir ideasexplicitly,students maketheirthinkingvisible, allowingteacherstomonitor theirlearningmoreeasily.

04.

Teachersarechallengedto movestudentsbeyondrotelearningintotherealmsof criticalthinkingandreflective learning. Aninquiry-ledmodelallows teacherstoincorporatethe principlesofdifferentiated instructioninthelessonto meetdiverselearingneeds.

"When students learn to enjoy inquiry-based learning, they are more likely to become thoughtful and motivated lifelong learners."

IBL focuses on investigating open ended problems, using evidence based reasoning and creative problem solving to reach a conclusion.

Xinghua Primary School: IBL in the Teaching of Physical Education

At Xinghua Primary School, students are actively involved in their learning. This allows them to pace and regulate their own learning, and venture into a recursive process where they investigate widely, formulate questions to gain greater understanding and reflect on the learning process.

The Physical Education department favours the problem based approach as it excites students and piques their curiosity The department has adapted Brophy's (1998) Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model, which consists of layered stages to guide their approach in implementing IBL in their lessons.

There are two main stages in the CPS approach: Stage 1: Problem finding; a divergent ideation

1a: Teacher poses a problem, usually as a representation of the learning outcome, with a rule or constraint to trigger students' curiosity.

1b: Students formulate and pose questions to the teacher to gain greater understanding of an ill defined problem

Stage 2: Problem solving; a convergent evalution

2a: Students explore solutions. 2b: Students select and trial the most appropriate solution.

2c: Students evaluate the chosen solution

Mr Fazlin Jaya Indra, Lead Teacher, shares his school's IBL practice in Physical Education.

Using the CPS approach, the following key benefits have been observed:

Greater Student Engagement

It is commonly observed that student engagement and behavioural issues that require a teacher's intervention have an inverse relationship. With greater student engagement, the teacher can focus on scaffolding or extending students' learning

Evidence of Higher-Order Thinking

Students construct knowledge independently when they analyse a problem, formulate questions, synthesise and evaluate diverging solutions, in order to select one that can effectively address the problem.

Enhanced Competency of Teachers

Not only do teachers gain a deeper understanding of the different student profiles in their classes, but they also develop teaching competencies such as questioning skills, facilitation skills, and an ability to differentiate learning tasks.

Planning

The CPS model acts as a guide for teachers to engage pedagogies that address the following questions:

How can I present the learning outcome as a problem?

How much curriculum time does the teacher, and students, have to attain the unit's learning outcome?

Does implementing IBL allow a constructive alignment of the learning outcomes, learning tasks and assessment?

The following are three examples in which PE specific pedgagoies were engaged to attain learning outcomes in problem based learning:

Movement Education

Inquiry Statement: How many ways can you send this ball, using your hand to strike to your partner?

Learning Outcome: Using hands to strike a ball to partner

Inquiry Statement: How can you cross the river (e g , a gymnastics mat) with only your hands touching it?

Outcome: A lead up activity to performing a cartwheel.

Inquiry Statement: What can you do to pass the ball to your partner without letting the defender intercept it?

Learning Outcome: Maintaining possession of the ball and supporting the on ball player.

trialing solutions of the inquiry

West Spring Secondary School: IBL in the Teaching of Art

Miss Joyce Chia, Subject Head, shares her school's IBL practice in Art.

At West Spring Secondary School (WSSS), art lessons are curated as a way of exploring, interpreting and imagining the world; art is presented as an area of inquiry Allowing students to explore art topics through IBL allows students to make their learning more authentic and relevant, fostering 21st century competencies.

Connect: Make connections to self or access previous knowledge, to set context for learning

Wonder: Develop questions related to connections made, and make predictions and form hypotheses

Investigate: Find and evaluate information to answer questions and test hypotheses.

The art curriculum at WSSS centres around the Inquiry Art Model

Students explore various themes in a year, with lessons for each theme sequentially planned. The sequence of lessons for each theme is planned according to the following structure:

Construct: Develop new understanding connected to previous knowledge and draw conclusions to questions and hypotheses.

Express: Apply and share learning with others through various art forms/products.

Reflect: Ask new questions and reflect on their learning

Implementing the IBL Lesson

Teachers have to consider their student profiles (which include students' learning preferences, strengths and challenges) and be sensitive to their learning needs in order to identify the best way to address them.

An example of an art lesson which focuses on IBL and authentic learning, is the Secondary One themed unit lesson, 'My Pet Monstie' The lessons are scaffolded for learners to go through self discovery of art making processes, make connections between self expressions and everyday experiences.

Learners’ natural curiosity is the engine that drives their ability to acquire knowledge. The Inquiry Art Model has shown to develop positive learning dispositions that help art students become lifelong learners.

03.Students are more connected to lessons and participate enthusiastically in a self discovery mode, forming a meaningful art experience about the world around them.

Through the extensive engagement and collaboration required, students learn to listen intently, respect one another’s opinions and understand alternatives and multiple perspectives of ideas.

Studentstakegreaterownership oftheirownlearningduetothe higherlevelofagencyaccordedto themtoskilfullyseekanduse informationtodrawandexpress conclusion.

004.

The authentic learning experience has made learning art more meaningful for students and art has become a more relevant part of their lives.

"Planning a good and effective series of lessons requires research and careful planning. Sequencing of lessons and firming up the objectives and success criteria for each lesson is of utmost importance. It can be challenging, but definitely worth the effort when students are purposefully engaged during lessons."

Hougang Secondary School: IBL in the Teaching of Music

Hougang Secondary School (HSS) has embarked on the mixed stream form classes model since 2020, in preparation for the Full Subject Based Banding (FSBB) initiative. With a wider range of student profiles within a music classroom, teachers explored the use of IBL to further engage students and help them become self directed learners

At HSS, the music unit believes that IBL is about equipping students with an array of methods or tools to construct deeper knowledge. It is about getting students to ask questions that they are curious about, encouraging them to share and reflect upon their own ideas and questions, and ultimately learning from their own experiences.

Empowering students through the IBL approach has helped quieter students become more confident in asking and answering questions, either verbally or through a means of ICT They have become more motivated and invested in the tasks given to them.

As the lessons became more student centric, teachers were able to take a step back and play the role of facilitators They gained more opportunities to observe students and have a deeper understanding of how they think and learn. This has helped teachers plan for future lessons by taking students' cognitive abilities and learning styles into consideration

Miss Jasmine Low, Subject Coordinator, shares her school's IBL practice in Music.

The music teachers used the IBL approach for the unit on songwriting. When planning the lessons which were spread across 24 weeks, the IBL principles of Express, Experiment, Collaborate and Reflect were considered

The song writing module consisted of lyrics writing, choice of harmony, melody composition and song recording.

Surveying Students' Prior Knowledge

The teachers conducted a pre module baseline survey to find out students’ prior knowledge This helped them to gauge their students’ profile and tailor their lessons to suit their learning needs.

Expressing, Experimenting and Collaborating

Students shared their ideas and experiences in discussions. Through bite sized tasks that they performed as a class or in small groups, they gained deeper understanding, as well as independence and confidence

Gradual Release of Responsibility

The lessons shifted from being teacher directed to being more student directed as teachers gradually allowed students to take on the responsibility of deciding on the process of lyrics writing individually

Reflecting

Through the feedback teachers provided using rubrics, students were able to reflect on their work to deepen their understanding of the concepts further

During the period of IBL implementation, the music teachers made use of their weekly departmental meetings to share their progress, successes and challenges. Through this sharing, they further tweaked and customised their upcoming lessons.

The music teachers grew their competencies in IBL through the sharing and experimentations as well as by overcoming the challenges they faced.

Their biggest challenge was resisting the urge to incorporate too much rote learning and drill based learning, which have been the 'easier' and more convenient ways of teaching concepts and skills. The departmental sharing sessions served as timely reminders to the team that learning had to be student focused and that the teachers were now facilitators who modelled, encouraged, and helped students develop problem solving skills.

"For IBL to be effective, more time is needed for both teachers and students to practise, shift their mindsets and eventually embrace this style of learning."

Another challenge that the teachers had to overcome was the learning habits that their students were accustomed to. The majority of the students were still uncomfortable with exploration, risk taking or exchange of ideas with their peers.

As a team, the teachers persevered in encouraging students to ask questions through ICT platforms such as Padlet and Mentimeter so that the process could be less daunting. It helped some students to become more confident in asking questions and sharing their thoughts and findings

emPowereD is brought to you by the Publications Team from Professional Developement Branch 2.

Ms Audrey Chen (Director)

Ms Tan Chay Eng (Deputy Director)

Ms Tan Yih Tyan

Mr Oh Teck Tiong (PDPO)

Ms Arwinder Kaur

Mr Huzaifah Harris

Mr Jason Seng