Inquiry learning

Inquiry Learning

It is commonly said that those who are told will forget, those who are shown will remember and those who are involved will understand. The last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning. Inquiry implies the involvement of learners in any activity that leads to understanding. Furthermore, involvement in learning activities includes possessing skills and attitudes that permit the learner to seek resolutions to questions and issues while constructing new knowledge.

The practice of inquiry is significant because, through this process, learners construct much of their understanding of the natural and human-designed world. They develop their skills and nurture the inquiring attitudes necessary to continue the generation and examination of knowledge throughout their lives. Inquiry learning can turn information into useful knowledge. Information lacking a useful context often has limited application beyond passing a test. Developing habits of mind should be an important goal or outcome in the educational process. They are nurtured through questioning and reflection.

Questions like How do you/I know? Can you/I ever know that? What is the evidence? How did you/I arrive at that decision? Questions, whether self-initiated or "owned," are at the heart of inquiry learning.

In an inquiry classroom, the teachers ask questions that are more open and reflective in nature. Appropriate questioning techniques are important in inquiry-based classroom teaching, especially in the lower grades a strong foundation for self-initiated questioning.