You hear it all of the time. What’s inquiry-based learning? What is an inquiry-based lesson? It seems to be all the rage in education and for good reason. In my last post, I talked about the importance of engaging students in science and causing them to wonder. When you spark this curiosity in students, they are more likely to be intrinsically motivated to learn and not just listening and pretending to learn out of compliance.
Teaching using an inquiry-based model isn’t necessarily difficult to do, but it does require some practice. It also takes some excitement on the teacher’s part. Students are not going to get excited about the content if the teacher isn’t excited.
In this post, I will answer the question, “What is inquiry-based learning?”, talk about some inquiry-based learning activities, and discuss why inquiry-based learning is important.
What Does Inquiry Mean?
So, let’s talk about this. It’s pretty much an approach to learning that sparks curiosity in students. It can cause them to want to learn, ask more questions, and make their own discoveries.
It’s the process of answering a question and going through an investigation to find the answers to these questions.
There are actually several types of inquiry. My favorite framework is by Trevor Mackenzie. In his framework, he talks about four different types of inquiry:
- structured inquiry: students follow the teacher’s lead and engage in whole class inquiry
- controlled inquiry: the teacher chooses the topics and resources that students will use to answer questions
- guided inquiry: the teacher chooses the questions and/or topics and the students come up with a solution
- free inquiry: students choose their own topics/questions and go for the discovery
Inquiry allows for students to dive into their curiosity and explore a passion. As the teacher, our goal is to help them create new passions.
When they walk in the classroom, they may not have a passion for distance-time graphs, but we must try our best to make them see the importance!
Teaching with Inquiry
Why is inquiry-based learning important? Teaching with inquiry brightens student interests and helps students become passionate. Will students be passionate about everything? No, I mean, are you? However, it can really bring out what they are passionate about at an earlier age.
Middle school students begin to think about what they want to do as a career when they are older; so, the more that their natural passions are brought out, the quicker they determine what they are interested in and what they are not interested in.
Another one of the inquiry-based learning benefits is that it can deepen understanding of the science topic and goes beyond just memorizing some vocabulary and facts.
As I said, one of the problems with inquiry-based learning is that is does take some time and practice to really get the hang of, especially for students. Many students are used to “sit-and-get” kind of learning, so helping to create that spark and help them to make discoveries and design projects on their own can be challenging, but it’s not impossible.
Examples of Inquiry Questions and Topics
Inquiry-based learning quotes are the jam and so inspirational. I love this one by Trevor Mackenzie, “A successful inquiry classroom begins and ends with the students in inquiry”.
I’d like to go over some quick win examples of how you can implement inquiry-based learning for science today! I’ll do that by going over some questions and activities for inquiry-based learning for each of the four types of inquiry discussed above.
Structured Inquiry to Answer the Question, “Does Air Have Weight?”
This type of inquiry aligns more with traditional teaching methods, and in regard to science, I think of the more “cookbook” lab approach. Students are still exploring and discovering something new, but the teacher guides the whole thing and knows what should be expected at the end. Let’s look at something simple. Say we need to explore the concept that air has weight. So, students are working to answer, “Does Air Have Weight?”. Students can do this in groups or it can be completed as a class demonstration.
- You’ll need a meter stick, sheets of construction paper, and few sheets of construction paper rolled up.
- You are going to place the meter stick on a table so that about five centimeters are hanging over the edge of the table.
- Then, you will hit the edge of the meter stick that is hanging off with the roll of construction paper. Ask your students what happened.
- Place the meter stick back to its original location and place the sheets of construction paper over the other side of the meter stick that is on the table.
- Hit the edge of the meter stick that is hanging off again. Ask your students happened.
- What was the difference between what happened when the paper was on and when the paper was off of the meter stick? What does this have to do with air pressure?
In this type of inquiry, the steps and materials are given by the teacher, but students process the results as a class together.
Controlled Inquiry to Answer the Question, “How Can Simple Machines be used to Create a Machine that will Pop a Balloon?”
This is where the teacher chooses the topic/questions and the materials, but students have more control in how they design their investigation. Let’s look at an example when exploring simple machines. Your class can create a Rube Goldberg machine! Students will answer the question, “How can simple machines be used to create a machine that will pop a balloon?”.
You can already have an idea in mind of what type of Rube Goldberg machine you want your students to make and give students materials. Tell students they must have 3 simple machines: a lever, an inclined plane, and a wheel-an-axle. They must have 3 steps that will pop a balloon!
Tell them that the only materials they may use is cardboard, tubing, tape, dominoes, a toy car, and some sort of ball or marble.
That’s it. The parameters are set; however, students can choose their design.
In this type of inquiry, the goals have been set and limited, but students can still use their imagination
Guided Inquiry to Answer the Question, “How has Biotechnology Impacted your Life?”
In this type of inquiry, teachers still choose the topics and the questions; however, students are given the reigns to figure out the processes to answer those questions. It could start with just a simple question, “How has biotechnology impacted you in your life?”.
Students choose how they want to approach the topic. Do they want to build a model of DNA? Would they rather create a brochure to share with the community? What about creating a Google Slides presentation? Do they want to bring in food that was enhanced with this technology? The possibilities are endless!
This allows students to discover based on their passions while you lead them to what you need them to know.
Free Inquiry Under an Umbrella Topic
This type of inquiry allows students to really take ownership of their learning. They choose the topics, questions, designs, and goals. The free inquiry approach takes a lot of time for both students and teachers, even schools and districts, to get the hang of, but it’s a great goal to set.
Students are not trying to answer a question that you set or a topic, but they will come up with their own subtopic/questions under a main umbrella topic.
So, let’s say that you are covering the hydrosphere. What do the students want to investigate? Are they interested in oceans? Are they interested in the water cycle? Do they want to explore water pollution? This is a very interesting approach.
In the way that traditional schools are set up, there is a set content that needs to be taught, so free inquiry can take place, but it does need to be reeled back in to make sure that the standards are being taught.
Inquiry – More Resources for Your Science Classroom
Here are some more resources that you might find useful for your classroom!
Inquiry-Based Teaching Strategies
Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class
Help your students master science content!
[…] Let them create their own model. This is a great form of inquiry. […]