Inquiry is a broad term and the easiest way to describe it is that an inquiry approach to learning is allowing the students to take ownership of their learning and research something they are passionate about. The student’s role is to facilitate their own learning with the teacher’s role being there for support.
Inquiry used to have a bad reputation in standard education. When I was in elementary school and my parents were in school it would be unheard of to explore whatever you want to learn on your own. Direct instruction was the way to go. I only ever remember doing project-based learning which can be related to the inquiry.
Play-based inquiry is something I have seen in my time in classrooms. Play-based and inquiry learning engage students in various learning experiences that provide opportunities (State Government of Victoria, Australia, 2019). Young students are given time to play either outside or in the classroom to experience learning. An example of this would be giving students loose parts so pinecones, twigs, leaves, beads, felt etc, and having them create something of their choice.
According to Edutopia for the most basic inquiry, there are 4 steps.
Step 1 is for students to come up with a question that they have about something. (Edutopia, 2016)
Step 2 is having the students research their topic and question. Can they answer it? The question doesn’t necessarily need to be answered but what information is out there? (Edutopia, 2016)
Step 3 is having the students present what they have learned and sharing with their peers. (Edutopia, 2016)
Step 4 is having students reflect on the process. What worked and what didn’t? (Edutopia, 2016)
An inquiry approach is not the approach we decided to take in regard to our learning resource. In our blueprint-making process, we decided to allow for a more direct instruction/project-based approach. We felt because our audience was grade 2 students that we wanted to keep it simple for them. I thought about how we could incorporate inquiry into our learning project and we could have the students research their own questions about the water cycle or even give them loose parts and have them create their own water cycle.
References
Module 1.1 what is Play-Based and inquiry learning? Module 1.1 What is play-based and inquiry learning? (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/profdev/Pages/What-is-play-based-and-inquiry-learning.aspx
Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2016, August 11). What the heck is inquiry-based learning? Edutopia. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-inquiry-based-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron
