Inquiry Teaching/Learning Strategies

“The meaning of ‘knowing’ has shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being able to find and use it.”

(National Research Council, 2007)

Eli Spina (MCDB) – ejspina@gmail.com

Learning Goals

1. Comprehend constructivist learning theory and teaching practices

2. Analyze an inquiry based learning exercise

3. Synthesize a conceptual framework of inquiry based teaching & learning strategies

Constructivism

“Humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas.” - Wikipedia

Proponents: Dewey – “Directed living” Montessori – Practical playPiaget – Accommodation and assimilationVygotsky – Zone of proximal development Bruner – Discovery learning (pure inquiry)

Schemata

“Sets of linked mental representations of the world… used to understand & respond to situations.”

Assimilation: using an existing schema to deal with new information

Accommodation: existing schema are changed to deal with new information

McLeod, S. A. (2009)

Inquiry Based T/L (IBTL)

Pose questions instead of presenting facts.

(Banchi & Bell, 2008)

PXnL

Similarities Differences

PBL • Social constructivist origins

• Active engagement

• Foster collaborative skills

• Individual responsibility to the group

• Group responsibility to ensure shared understanding

• Varied duration• Open ended• Often uses primary literature

POGIL• Short, focused activities• Learning cycle of exploration,

invention & application

PLTL• Supplemental sessions• No instructor presence • Peer leaders promote within

group interaction

(Eberlein et al., 2008)

Etymology of Subfields

Late 1800’s: Constructivism1990’s: IBTL becomes popular

• PBL (Project based learning)• PLTL (Peer led team learning)

1999: POGIL (R. Moog et al.)2004: Widely cited literature review supporting pure open inquiry as ineffective or even detrimental to naive learners. (Mayer)2005 – 2015: Many publications using POGIL in CS,

engineering, chemistry & med schools

An Example of EffectivenessLower-level questions: Knowledge & ComprehensionHigher-level questions: Application & Analysis

(Soltis et al., 2015)

http://www.learnnc.org/

*All exams were 50 MC questions.

*

Inquiry Inception

1) What is scientific inquiry?

2) How can inquiry be used to construct knowledge?

a. What is learning? Active learning?b. What is knowledge?

Brainstorm answers in pairs/groups of 3.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Griffith’s Experiment (1928)

(Mulligan, 2014)

What’s the role of the instructor?

How would you approach IBTL depending on:Environment?Goals?Engagement/Authenticity?Assessment?Others…?

How should the instructor & students interact with each other and the course content?

How To (Re)Organize These Ideas?

• Sequence• Cycle• Concept map• Lists• Table

• Others…?

Inquiry

StudentContent

InstructorEnvironment

What Just Happened?• I posed a question = guidance• You read & brainstormed ideas = “research”• We discussed as a group = reflection/discourse• We co-created a final product = authenticity

Active learning was incorporated using peer-teaching, discussion and reflection. This only required minor background knowledge and structured delivery of guiding questions.

Inquiry BasedLearning

chipbruce.net

Learning Goals

1. Comprehend constructivist learning theory and teaching practices

2. Apply IBTL to analyze an IBTL exercise

3. Synthesize a conceptual framework of IBTL strategies

Garrison & Anderson (2003)

Final (Evaluative) Thoughts

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