Inquiry Learning

Memorising facts and information is not the most important skill in today’s world. Facts change and information is readily available – what’s needed is an understanding of how to find, make sense of and use relevant information for specific purposes.

Inquiry learning is a process where students formulate investigative questions, carry out research using a series of structured investigations to obtain factual information, build knowledge that answers their original question, then evaluate and report on the findings.

During the process, students are encouraged to observe carefully, think critically and analyse their discoveries; explore possibilities, construct their own interpretations and debate and defend their conclusions.

Because students have ownership over the process, their learning becomes a rich and meaningful experience.

There are a number of steps to the process:

Tuning In/Immersion

prior knowledge/new knowledge/questions

Finding Out

knowledge/questions

Sorting Out

questions/comprehension/application/processing/presentation

Going Further

questions/analysis/synthesis/presentation

Making Conclusions

synthesis-pulling it all together/evaluation/presentation/reflection

Taking Action

evaluation/next step