An Inquiry Primer (RAR)

I have decided to do my research on an article titled An Inquiry Primer written by Alan Collburn. Throughout this article there was a lot of information provided regarding inquiry and inquiry based instruction. This article stated if inquiry is so important than how come more teachers do not use it in the classroom? There was a study conducted that found those exact reasons. Not all teachers are using inquiry in the classroom due to “Confusion about the meaning of inquiry, the belief that inquiry instruction only works well with high-ability students, teachers feeling inadequately prepared for inquiry-based instruction, inquiry being viewed as difficult to manage, an allegiance to teaching facts and finally the purpose of a course being seen as preparing students for the next level.” All of these reasons above are reasons why not all teachers are using inquiry in the classroom. I think it is important to use inquiry while teaching, not all teachers fully understand the concept on inquiry and that may be why it is not used as frequently as it should be.

There are all different types of inquiry, structured inquiry, guided inquiry, open inquiry and the learning cycle of inquiry. These types of inquiry have their separate definition based off of how they are used within the classroom. Structured inquiry has to do with the teacher providing hands on problems to investigate, along with these hands on problems there are procedures and materials that need to be used, but structural inquiry does not inform the students of the excepted outcome of what will happen. Students are too collect data and be ready for an outcome. When it comes to guided inquiry the teacher is to provide only materials and a problem for the students to investigate. Students are to come up with their own way to solve this procedure and come up with an answer. Lastly there is Open Inquiry this process may seem a lot like guided inquiry but it has its differences, even though students are to formulate their own problem when it comes to open inquiry students are to also do the science.  A good example used in this article for open inquiry is the science fair and science fair activities conducted by the students and then there is a learning cycle that comes along with all of the above.

A question is asked, is inquiry only for bright kids? The answer to that question is no! Inquiry activities can be used to challenge advanced children but it is not only used for advanced children. The researches took their time to examine learning from what is known as a Piagetian Perspective, they were able to come up with two conclusions along the way of researching. One conclusion was that “Inquiry often requires hypothetical/ deductive reasoning, and the second conclusion was “Concrete thinkers have a great deal of difficulty developing an understanding of abstract concepts.” This article states that most middle school children are known to be concrete thinkers so they may have trouble when it comes to using inquiry to explore abstract concepts. There are pros and cons to using inquiry with children at the middle school level. There are ways to effectively teach inquiry-based instruction but there are steps that need to be followed in order to do so. One step that must be used to effectively teach inquiry-based instruction to children is to center activities around questions that students can answer directly through investigation, also as a teacher you want to make sure you only use inquiry when you know that activity is suitable for your students skills and knowledge so they can successfully complete the activity without frustration and confusion.

            There are many things a teacher needs to do in the classroom for the inquiry process to be successful, the teacher needs to know how to support inquiry-based instruction. Often if a teacher is not familiar with inquiry they will not know how to use it with their students in the classroom and avoid the concept entirely. The teacher must ask open ended questions, be patient and give their students time to think and avoid telling your students what to do, give them the time to figure it out by themselves so it becomes a more rewarding feeling for the child.  Overall, when it comes to teaching using inquiry, inquiry is seen to be “equal or superior to other instructional modes and result in higher scores on content achievement tests.” Inquiry is not only used for the advanced students, it should be used for every student. Students will become very successful when using the inquiry process, they will be able to come up with answers and ideas on their own and interact with one another.

            I thought this was a great article! It really informed the reader on what inquiry exactly is and how it works. It allowed individuals to obtain knowledge on inquiry and be given background information on why it is not only for advanced students and can be used in the classroom everyday. I think it is important to use inquiry, throughout teaching our lesson at Sacred Heart we learned how important using inquiry really is. I made my selection on this article because we have spoken about inquiry all semester long and the importance of using it in the classroom. This article has really informed me of all different skills to use while teaching an inquiry based lesson in the classroom and I will use this information I have obtained on inquiry in my classroom one day. I think that it is extremely important that teachers are properly trained and informed on how inquiry based instruction works before shutting it out completely. I think it is a great opportunity for students to use and learn the inquiry process, and I also believe it helps advance to child’s ability of working in the classroom and following direction.  The inquiry process should be used in every classroom! It’s a great method.

 

  

       
                                 

References

1. National Research Council. 1996. National science

education standards. Washington, D.C.: National

Academy Press.

2. Project 2061. 1993. Benchmarks for science literacy.

New York: Oxford University Press.

3. Welch, W.W., L.E. Klopfer, G.E. Aikenhead, et al.

1981. The role of inquiry in science education:

4. Analysis and recommendations. Science Education

65:33–50.

5. Suchman, J.R. 1964. The Illinois studies in inquiry

training. Journal of Research in Science Teaching

2:230–232.