20 Questions To Guide Inquiry-Based Learning
by TeachThought Staff
Recently we took at look at the phases of inquiry-based learning through a framework, and even apps that were conducive to inquiry-based learning on the iPad.
In the first post, we suggested that inquiry-based learning is an “instructional model that centers learning on a solving a particular problem or answering a central question.” We also provided some thinking on the ‘stages’ of inquiry, saying that “inquiry-based learning can vary depending on context but generally include Interacting, Clarifying, Questioning, and Designing.”
During our research for that phases framework, we stumbled across the following breakdown of the inquiry process for learning on 21stcenturyhsie.weebly.com (who offer the references that appear below the graphic). Most helpfully, it offers 20 questions that can guide student research at any stage, including:
What do I want to know about this topic? How do I know I know it? What kinds of resources might help? How do I know the info is valid? Does my research raise new questions? And, in a nod to digital and social media, How do I use media to express my message?
These stages have some overlap with self-directed learning. Hopefully you’ll find the following graphic–and the embedded stages and questions–helpful in your planning, or to distribute to students as they make sense of what could be a new (for them) approach to learning.
References
Cross, M. (1996). Teaching Primary Science: empowering children for their world. Melbourne: Longman Australia.
Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L., & Caspari, A. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. London: Libraries Unlimited.
