Reflection 4: What is Inquiry-Based Learning?

When first talking about inquiry-based learning it is important to first define inquiry which is understanding the knowledge and solving a problem, questioning. Inquiry-based learning is a process in which the students involve themselves within the learning to help better understand what is being taught and to also better understand or make sense of what is going on around us. It was formed by theorists Freire, Piaget, Vygostsky, Dewey and many more. Author Joe Exline stated “Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.” Everyone learns differently but I personally feel that learning hands on helps tremendously. To inquire is something we have all done since birth by recognizing faces and voices, environments and objects.
Inquiry is an important learning method because without it nothing can be understood. To implement inquiry based learning we must change the “traditional” ways of learning such as memorization. Many use the memorization as a method of learning but this will not help you in the long run. Even though one would memorize what is being taught the student is not able to understand, which is the most important. To learn one must understand what is being taught. When you understand the information it is being brought with you for a lifetime. We must process the information and put it into sense in our own way. A good example would be math. Math is a subject that not many enjoy. It is something you must understand, if not, there is no sense. To understand math you must be able to use your own steps in what helps you understand. Another example of inquiry would be passages. During elementary school it was brought to both my parents and I’s attention that I was having difficulty in understanding what I was reading. A way to help test your knowledge is to have a reading passage, then questions, questioning your knowledge and understanding in what was being read. Effective inquiry includes questioning such as a framework of questioning, different levels of questioning, and a context for questions. Within in inquiry we must also bridge what we know to how we must come to know.
Inquiry learning is active learning, more hands on and being involved. When you involve the student, they are being forced to try and understand what is going on also teaching them step by step on what to do. You are just guiding them while the student is learning and understanding themselves.