Inquiry Based Teaching

1. Inquiry based teaching and learning

1.1. Definition of Inquiry based teaching and learning

Inquiry has been defined in a number of ways, ranging from simple descriptions of students actively guiding their own learning with the teacher acting as facilitator to more elaborated lists of actions for the teacher, student, and curriculum (e.g., NRC, 1996, 20). A number of research findings concluded that inquiry based teaching is a more effective way to help students learn compared to the traditional didactic teaching approach. However, despite these findings, critiques of inquiry-based teaching have persisted, in part because of disagreements among researchers about what features define inquiry (Furtak et al., 2012). The ways in which inquiry

Teaching science as inquiry has the potential to be more relevant to students than other forms of science instruction because it engages students in negotiating their own understandings with science and approximates how science is practiced (Dewey,1938). Dewey’s perspective on science education focused on solving real world problems based in children’s experiences. He argued for an inquiry-based, student-centred education where the role of the teacher was to guide and support students in an active quest for knowledge (Dewey 1938). Inquiry-based instruction has potential to improve both student understanding of science and engagement in science (NRC, 1996). Further, inquiry-based science teaching has possibilities of engaging all students, including those from underrepresented populations in science, in understanding and becoming motivated to learn science (Capps D. K., Crawford B.A. and Constas M.A.,

Several quantitative studies support the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning as an instructional approach. Alfieri, Brooks, Aldrich, and Tenenbaum (2011), performed a meta-analysis comparing inquiry based teaching to other forms of instruction and found that inquiry teaching resulted in better learning (mean effect size of d=0.30). Moreover, Furtak, Seidel, Iverson, and Briggs (2012) carried out a meta-analysis of 37 experimental and quasi experimental studies published between 1996 and 2006 and reported an overall mean effect size of 0.50 in favour of the inquiry approach over traditional instruction. Furthermore, A positive trend supporting inquiry-based science instruction over traditional teaching methods was found in a research synthesis by Minner, Levy, and Century (2010). On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that web-based guided inquiry-based learning can improve procedural domain of the dimension of inquiry including identifying problems, asking questions and formulating hypotheses, planning and conducting experiments, collecting and analysing data, presenting the results, and drawing conclusions (Mäeots, Pedaste, & Sarapuu,