Inquiry-Based Learning for the Novice Teacher

From wilkes.discoveryeducation.com

Inquiry-based learning in one sentence, can be best summed as per Blogger Lisa Donohue:  "helping students know where to look, but not telling them what to see”.  This process of inquiry has been found to be one of the most effective ways of learning as it deepens student knowledge, understanding and interest of a specific topic (Capacity Building Series, 2013).

In order for inquiry-based learning to be successfully implemented in the classroom, teachers must not only be knowledgeable about the curriculum, but must also know how to correctly guide students through inquiry-based thinking.  The latter is not an easy task, and as a novice teacher myself, I find it to be an overwhelming process.  However, through research I have found many effective ways to get started, which I would like to share with you.

Many students may not have had the opportunity to learn in an inquiry-based environment before.  Thus, it is important for the teacher to initiate the process through demonstrations early at the beginning of the year.  This not only helps students understand what is expected of them, but it also encourages them to build good habits of thinking which will no doubt flourish throughout the course of the year.  According to the article Capacity Building Series - Inquiry-based Learning (2013), there are various types of contributions teachers can model, in order to teach students how to inquire.  These can include:

a) Declarative statements, such as "Do you agree or disagree with...?"; "Can you provide a reason for your answer?"; and "What example do you have that supports your decision?"

b) Building on, which includes further explaining or adding to a student's answer in order to elicit deeper thinking for the rest of the students (ie. this works best during a whole class discussion).

c) Paraphrasing statements made by students, to clarify that what was said was understood.  This is also a great opportunity to ask other students if they would like to add to the statement, during group or whole class discussions.

d) Making connections, such as using analogies or experiences to explain a concept or idea further.  This is a great opportunity to prompt students to give other examples of connections found in order to make the learning more meaningful and memorable. 

e) Asking questions, in order to guide students into deeper thought and perhaps recognize patterns or see things through another lens.  Ex.  Is life better or worse today than it was for the people in Canada as it was in the mid-1800s?

f) Proposing theories, such as asking students how we could test their theory in order to verify if their statement can in fact be true.  Ex.  Think about the education today compared to what it was in the mid-1800s.  What do you think the main focus of knowledge was at the time?

If you are a teacher who uses inquiry-based learning on a regular basis, what other ways can novice teachers initiate the process in their classroom effectively?