Designing inquiry learning into
courses
Mick Healey
HE Consultant and Researcher, UK
mhealey@glos.ac.uk; www.mickhealey.co.uk
Inquiry in the sciences
Structure
• Introduction - MH
• Examples of IBL in courses - MH
• Stages of IBL - MH
• Activities to get students active in their learning - MH
• Modes of IBL - MH
• Planning how to engage your students in research
and inquiry – MJ
• The potential of TEL in supporting IGL - MJ
Model of the inquiry process
(Justice et al., 2007)
Taking
responsibility
for learning
Engaging a topic & building
basic knowledge
Developing a question
Evaluating success
Communicating new
understandings
Self-reflection &
Self-evaluation
Weighing evidence &
synthesising
understandings
Anticipating possible
answers & determining
relevant information
Identifying resources &
gathering information
Assessing
information
Forms of IBL
IBL activities may be designed to last over
different lengths of time:
•
•
•
•
A short exercise in a class,
A whole class
A whole semester course
A whole program
In pairs each look at a different whole
semester IBL course (pp2-4 and pp5-8).
Discuss the similarities and differences
IBL is a pedagogy which best enables students to
experience the processes of knowledge creation
IBL involves:
• Learning stimulated by inquiry i.e.
driven by questions or research
problems
• Learning based on a process of
constructing new knowledge and
understanding
• A student/learner/learningcentred approach with the
teacher as a facilitator
• A move to self-directed learning
• The development of skills in selfreflection
Optional attributes of IBL:
• Collaborative/group learning
• Community involvement
• Field-based activity
• Resource-based learning
• Multi or inter-disciplinary focus
Students engaged in IBL should
develop:
• Critical thinking skills
• The ability for independent inquiry
• Responsibility for their own
learning
• Intellectual growth and maturity
(Lee et al., 2004)
Stage of inquiry learning
Upon successful completion of this course a student
should be able to:
1. develop a researchable question and give a rationale
for its significance;
2. choose appropriate research methods to obtain
information relevant to answering the question;
3. critically evaluate the validity and relevance of
sources;
4. communicate a coherent response to the research
question and interpret the findings in a wider context;
5. critically reflect on the learning process.
Break out activity
Establish 5 small groups
• Each group takes one stage of inquiry learning
• Identify c3 activities that you could do with your
stage to develop the students’ skills in this stage
• Record your activities on the chart paper – be
prepared to share in plenary
Allocate 15 minutes
Mainstreaming undergraduate research and
inquiry: discipline and department strategies
“Once you have learnt how to ask questions
– relevant and appropriate and substantial
questions – you have learnt how to learn
and no one can keep you from learning
whatever you want or need to know.”
Postman and Weingartner (1971, 23)
Active learning suggestions
In groups of 3 look at:
1. Activities to get students active in their learning
(pp9-14) (2 people)
2. Research skill development framework (p15) and
Academic literacy framework (p16)
–
Discuss ideas which are transferable
Time: 15 minutes
Modes of IBL
• Importance of scaffolding provided by lecturer and
development of independence in learner
• Structured – where lecturers provide an issue or problem
and an outline for addressing it
• Guided – where lecturers provide questions to stimulate
inquiry but students are self-directed in terms of exploring
these questions
• Open – where students formulate the questions
themselves as well as going through the full inquiry cycle
(after Staver and Bay, 1987)
Does IBL enhance student learning?
Increasing evidence that shows:
• enhanced academic achievement, student perceptions,
process skills, analytic abilities, critical thinking and
creativity (Prince & Felder, 2006)
• deeper understanding, higher degree of reflection, more
motivated and achievement of higher order learning (Berg
et al., 2003)
• higher grades, more Honours, better retention (Justice et
al. 2007b)
(Spronken-Smith et al. 2009)
(Spronken-Smith et al. 2009)
Scaffolding inquiry throughout a degree
3rd year
1st year
2nd year
2nd year
1st year
3rd year
Planning your learning design
 Use of learning design planners valuable for:
 Achieving common understanding in
development team
 communicate tacit information
 Sharing design more widely
 Communicating design to students
 As an aid to evaluation

[Brown, C (2006) Developing familiarity with learning design tools through subject analysis, Journal of Learning
Design 1(2) 10-20 [http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/]
 ].
Inquiry planners
 In pairs look at (one each):
 Sheffield inquiry planner (pp17-18)
 Gloucestershire inquiry planner (pp19-27)
 Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of
each.
[10 mins]
Using TEL for IGL
Digital technologies take many
forms, and create opportunities
for change, and support for new
ways of working. However, few
universities have gone far
beyond the provision of
technology for information,
communication, and
organisational transactions, to
use its wider capabilities to
improve the quality of the
learning experience itself.
‘Using technology to
enhance the quality of
teaching is just
accommodating technology
to the old ways of doing
things. We are adding
quadraphonic sound and
GPS system to a horse and
cart, but its still a horse and
cart’
(Bates and Sangra, 2013: 12)
Laurillard (2008: 525)
Bates, AW & Sangra, A (2013) Managing technology in higher education: strategies for transforming teaching and learning, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Laurillard, d. (2008) Technology enhanced learning as a tool for pedagogical innovation, Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol 42, pt3-4
Using TEL for IGL
‘ ..new technologies …
create an even more critical
role for the teacher, who is
not simply mediating the
knowledge already
articulated, but is more
deeply involved in
scaffolding the way students
think and how they develop
the new kinds of skills they
will need for the digital
literacies’
Laurillard (2012: 4)
'Technology will
not replace
teachers, but
teachers who
adopt new
technologies will
probably replace
those who don't.‘
Steve Wheeler http://stevewheeler.blogspot.ca/2014/02/thesurvival-of-higher-education5.html
Using TEL for IGL
• Task
– TEL used to undertake the task
– Process vs. Product
• Resources
– providing access to resources required to
complete the task
• Guidance
– providing support to the learners
Using TEL for IGL
• Review the case studies from session one
– Which case studies used learning technologies
– How is the technology used?
• Task
• Resources
• Guidance
• [10 mins]