In the 1960s – Joseph Schwab was a fundamental originator of the Inquiry-based Learning Model, which holds that individuals can learn by studying scenarios and issues, as well as through social encounters.

What exactly is inquiry-based learning?

The Inquiry-based Learning Model arose in the 1960s, during the “discovery learning” concept, and is founded on the premise that people can learn by studying scenarios and issues, as well as via social encounters. Instead of having students memorize information from printed sources, instructors encouraged them to perform research that would satisfy their curiosity, increase their knowledge base, and help them improve their skills and intellectual frames.

It’s important to remember that inquiry-based learning is a process, not a technique or practice, that has the potential to increase learners’ intellectual engagement and deep understanding by encouraging them to: 

• Improve their questioning, research, and communication skills 
• Contribute to the development and improvement of ideas and knowledge
• Solve problems, create solutions, and tackle real-life questions and issues
• Work Collaboratively outside the classroom 

Inquiry-based learning’s 5 Steps

As a result, inquiry-based learning incorporates the following steps:

1. Pose questions
2. Verbally or in writing, communicate results 
3. Consider the information and knowledge received
4. Investigate numerous scenarios
5. Perform analysis and provide explanations

Inquiry-based learning concepts

Certain principles govern inquiry-based learning, which can be stated as follows:

• Principle 1: Learners are at the heart of the process, with instructors, resources, and technology in place to support them.
• Principle 2: Instructors not only promote the learning process but also aim to learn more about their students and the inquiry-based learning process.
• Principle 3: The emphasis should be on evaluating the growth of information-processing skills and conceptual comprehension rather than the field’s actual substance.
• Principle 4: Information-processing skills are central to all learning processes.

The four types of investigation

In inquiry-based instruction, four types of inquiry are typically used:

• Inquiry for confirmation

Learners are provided with a question as well as a procedure, the ultimate result of which is already known. The purpose is to validate the results. This allows students to reaffirm previously established ideas and practice their inquisitive skills.

• Guided investigation

Students are only given one question. The primary purpose is to devise an inquiry approach and then test the question itself. This style of inquiry is not as structured as the ones outlined above.

• An open investigation

Learners must create their questions, build research methodologies, and then conduct the investigation. At the end of the process, they must present their findings.

• Structured investigation

Learners are given a question and a strategy for attaining the objective, but the goal is to produce an answer that is already supported by evidence obtained during and after the investigation.

In an instructional setting, inquiry-based learning allows instructors to let students fully examine problems and circumstances, allowing them to learn not just from the outcomes but also from the process itself. They are encouraged to ask questions, explore their surroundings, gather evidence to support claims and results, and create a convincing argument about how they arrived at the final result.