Inquiry-based learning: Difference between revisions

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=== Inquiry learning in science education ===

====== History ======

Inquiry learning has been used as a teaching and learning tool for thousands of years, however, the use of inquiry within public education has a much briefer history.<ref name="National Research Council 2000">National Research Council. 2000. Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.</ref> Ancient Greek and Roman [[educational philosophies]] focused much more on the art of agricultural and domestic skills for the middle class and [[Rhetoric|oratory]] for the wealthy upper class. It was not until the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, during the late 17th and 18th century that the subject of Science was considered a respectable academic body of knowledge.<ref>Murphy, M. (2006). The History and Philosophy of Education: Voices of Educational Pioneers Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Pearson Education, Inc. {{ISBN|0130955507}}</ref> Up until the 1900s the study of science within education had a primary focus on memorizing and organizing facts.

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A catalyst for reform within North American science education was the 1957 launch of [[Sputnik 1|Sputnik]], the Soviet Union satellite. This historical scientific breakthrough caused a great deal of concern around the science and technology education the American students were receiving. In 1958 the U.S. congress developed and passed the [[National Defense Education Act]] in order to provide math and science teachers with adequate teaching materials.<ref name="science.education.nih.gov">National Institute for Health. (2005). Doing Science: The Process of Science Inquiry. [https://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/Process%20of%20Scietific%20Inquiry.pdf http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih6/inquiry/guide/info_process-a.htm]</ref>

=== Inquiry Learning in=== Science EducationStandards ======

America's '''[[Next Generation Science Standards|Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)]]''' embrace student centered inquiry-based pedagogy by implementing a three part approach to science education: Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Cross Cutting Concepts (CCCs).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page {{!}} Next Generation Science Standards |url=https://www.nextgenscience.org/ |access-date=2023-10-24 |website=www.nextgenscience.org}}</ref> The standards are designed so that students learn science by performing scientific practices in the classroom. Students use SEPs such as asking questions, planning and carrying out investigations, collaboration, data collection and analysis, argumentation from evidence, and more to learn the DCIs and CCCs in scientific content areas. These practices are comparable to the [[21st century skills|21st Century Skills]] that have been shown to be indicators of success in modern societies and workplaces regardless of whether that field is science based.

====== Pedagogical Applications ======

Inquiry-based pedagogy in science education has been shown to increase students' scientific knowledge and literacy when compared to when students are taught using more traditional pedagogical methods.<ref name=":03">{{Cite thesis |title=Lego TC logo as a learning environment in problem-solving in advanced supplementary level design &amp; technology with pupils aged 16-19 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b3862630 |publisher=The University of Hong Kong Libraries |first=Ting-kau |last=Lo}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Gormally |first=Cara |last2=Brickman |first2=Peggy |last3=Hallar |first3=Brittan |last4=Armstrong |first4=Norris |date=2009-07-01 |title=Effects of Inquiry-based Learning on Students’ Science Literacy Skills and Confidence |url=http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/vol3/iss2/16 |journal=International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning |volume=3 |issue=2 |doi=10.20429/ijsotl.2009.030216 |issn=1931-4744}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Nichols |first=Kim |last2=Musofer |first2=Reshma |last3=Fynes-Clinton |first3=Liz |last4=Blundell |first4=Rosanne |date=November 2022 |title=Design thinking and inquiry behaviours are co-constituted in a community of inquiry middle years’ science classroom context: Empirical evidence for design thinking and pragmatist inquiry interconnections |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10798-021-09711-4 |journal=International Journal of Technology and Design Education |language=en |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=2527–2551 |doi=10.1007/s10798-021-09711-4 |issn=0957-7572}}</ref> However, even though students in inquiry-based classrooms are shown to have higher scientific knowledge, they have also been shown to have increased frustration and decreased confidence in scientific ability when compared to their peers taught using traditional methods.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Makkonen |first=Taina |last2=Tirri |first2=Kirsi |last3=Lavonen |first3=Jari |date=November 2021 |title=Engagement in Learning Physics Through Project-Based Learning: A Case Study of Gifted Finnish Upper-Secondary-Level Students |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1932202X211018644 |journal=Journal of Advanced Academics |language=en |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=501–532 |doi=10.1177/1932202X211018644 |issn=1932-202X}}</ref> In cases where students' scientific knowledge in an inquiry based classroom was not significantly different than their peers taught in traditional methods, student problem solving ability was found to be improved for inquiry learning students.<ref name=":03"/> Inquiry as a pedagogical framework and learning process fits within many educational models including Problem Based Learning and the 5E Model of Education.

==== <u>Problem Based Learning (PBL) ====</u>

* Inquiry as a pedagogical framework has been shown to be especially effective when used along [[Problem-based learning|problem based learning]] (PBL) assignments.<ref name=":03"/><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Saleh |first=Asmalina |last2=Phillips |first2=Tanner M. |last3=Hmelo‐Silver |first3=Cindy E. |last4=Glazewski |first4=Krista D. |last5=Mott |first5=Bradford W. |last6=Lester |first6=James C. |date=September 2022 |title=A learning analytics approach towards understanding collaborative inquiry in a problem‐based learning environment |url=https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.13198 |journal=British Journal of Educational Technology |language=en |volume=53 |issue=5 |pages=1321–1342 |doi=10.1111/bjet.13198 |issn=0007-1013}}</ref><ref name=":5">Quitadamo, Ian J, and Ryan Campanella. “Cougars, Curriculum, and Community.” ''The Science Teacher'', vol. 72, no. 4, 1 Apr. 2005, pp. 28–31. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.</ref> As a student-centered strategy, PBL fits well within an inquiry based classroom. Students learn science by performing science: asking questions, designing experiments, collecting data, making claims, and using data to support claims. By creating a culture and community of inquiry in a science classroom, students learn science by working collaboratively with their peers to investigate the world around them and ways to solve problems affecting their communities.<ref name=":5" /> Students confronted with real world problems that affect their everyday lives are shown to have increased engagement and feel more encouraged to solve the problems posed to them.<ref name=":5" />

==== Collaboration and Communication in Inquiry Based Science Learning ====

Effective collaboration and communication is an integral part of scientists' and engineers' everyday lives and their importance is reflected in the representation of these skills in he SEPs of the NGSS. Inquiry education supports these skills, especially when students take part in a ''community of inquiry'' <ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |last=Nichols |first=Kim |last2=Musofer |first2=Reshma |last3=Fynes-Clinton |first3=Liz |last4=Blundell |first4=Rosanne |date=2022-11 |title=Design thinking and inquiry behaviours are co-constituted in a community of inquiry middle years’ science classroom context: Empirical evidence for design thinking and pragmatist inquiry interconnections |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10798-021-09711-4 |journal=International Journal of Technology and Design Education |language=en |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=2527–2551 |doi=10.1007/s10798-021-09711-4 |issn=0957-7572}}</ref><ref name=":52">Quitadamo, Ian J, and Ryan Campanella. “Cougars, Curriculum, and Community.” ''The Science Teacher'', vol. 72, no. 4, 1 Apr. 2005, pp. 28–31. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.</ref>. Students who are actively collaborating and communicating in an inquiry based science class exhibit and develop many of these skills.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Saleh |first=Asmalina |last2=Phillips |first2=Tanner M. |last3=Hmelo‐Silver |first3=Cindy E. |last4=Glazewski |first4=Krista D. |last5=Mott |first5=Bradford W. |last6=Lester |first6=James C. |date=2022-09 |title=A learning analytics approach towards understanding collaborative inquiry in a problem‐based learning environment |url=https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.13198 |journal=British Journal of Educational Technology |language=en |volume=53 |issue=5 |pages=1321–1342 |doi=10.1111/bjet.13198 |issn=0007-1013}}</ref><ref name=":52" /><ref name=":32" /><ref name=":02">{{Cite thesis |title=Lego TC logo as a learning environment in problem-solving in advanced supplementary level design &amp; technology with pupils aged 16-19 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b3862630 |publisher=The University of Hong Kong Libraries |first=Ting-kau |last=Lo}}</ref> Specifically, these students:

* make observations and ask questions with their peers

* work with peers to design solutions to problems

* analyze claims of their peers

* argue from evidence

* support their peers' growth and search for knowledge

=== Inquiry learning in social studies & history ===