Inquiry-Guided
Learning
June 26, 2014
Workshop Agenda

What is Inquiry-Guided Learning?

How can we ask more effective questions?

What kinds of “big” questions are useful for
course planning?

How can we get students to work effectively
in groups?

What are some examples of Inquiry-Guided
Lessons and how can we create these kinds
of lessons?
What is Inquiry-Guided
Learning?

In groups of 3, discuss your ideas about
what Inquiry-Guided Learning means to you.

Write a definition on the nearest whiteboard

Also write 1 or 2 examples of how you have
used or seen Inquiry-Guided Learning in
classrooms
Inquiry-Guided Learning

A pedagogical technique in which instructors
pose questions, problems or scenarios -rather than simply presenting established
facts or portraying a smooth path to
knowledge.

Students identify and research issues and
questions to develop their knowledge or find
solutions

Includes problem-based learning
Inquiry-Guided Learning
“IGL promotes the acquisition of new knowledge, abilities, and
attitudes through students’ increasingly independent investigation of
questions, problems, and issues, for which there often is no single
answer (Lee, V.S., ed. Teaching and Learning Through Inquiry: A
Guidebook for Institutions and Instructors. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2004.
• Identify authentic questions
• Establish relevant context
• Activate prior knowledge
• Provide explicit modeling
• Provide scaffolding, opportunities
for practice, and feedback
• Prompt participant reflection,
synthesis, and self-assessment
• Structure collaborative exploration
of ways to use findings
• View participants as partners in
inquiry, rather than primarily as an
audience for findings
How To Ask
Effective Questions
Three Types of
Questions for
Course Planning
Essential Questions
Questions that are at the heart of your
discipline
These questions should:

Be fundamental for understanding your
subject

Come up repeatedly in different areas of the
discipline and learning process

Raise other important questions
Examples of Essential
Questions

For a medical course on clinical practice:
“What are the qualities of a good doctor?”

For a course on music history: “What does it
mean that the same artistic ideas recur
throughout history?”

For a sociology course on poverty: “why is
poverty still endemic in modern First-World
societies?”

Your turn – Think of and jot down a question
that encompasses some great
mystery/problem in your field.
Unit Questions
Unit questions are more subject-specific
questions that are directly related to
essential questions.
These questions should:

Be subject (course level) specific

Link somehow to Essential questions

Have no one obvious correct answer

Be deliberately framed to provoke interest
Unit Question Examples
For a medical course on clinical practice –
“Why does communication matter to a
practicing physician?”
For a unit on 18th century music – “How is a
sonata form a reflection of the philosophical
trends of the 18th century?”
For a sociology course on poverty – “what role
does gender play in urban or rural poverty
structures?”
Your turn – think about and jot down a
question that relates to the essential question
you wrote, but is more subject-specific
Entry-Point Questions
Questions that are used specifically to start
off a topic.
These questions should:

Be framed for simplicity, in student-friendly
language

Provoke discussion and questions

Point toward the unit questions and essential
questions
Entry-Point Question
Examples
For a clinical practice course: “How does the
physician in this case study fail to communicate
with her patient?”
For a music history course: “What about this
piece of music is new compared to what came
before it historically?”
For a sociology class on poverty: “What are the
root causes of poverty in the Appalachian
mountain region?”
Your turn: Think of an entry-point question that
you could use on the first day of teaching a topic
that is related to the Essential and Unit questions
that you wrote.
Effective Group
Work
How to form groups, group roles, how to facilitate and
manage group work
Creating InquiryGuided Learning
Activities
Case Studies

In small groups, read the case studies of
examples of Inquiry-Guided Learning
assignments

What are the similarities between them? What
are disciplinary or course-specific differences?

Based on these case studies, what do you
think are important elements of creating
inquiry-guided lessons?

Choose one of the entry-point questions that
you wrote earlier. As a group brainstorm how
you could use that question as a cornerstone
for an Inquiry-Guided lesson.
Upcoming Center for
Teaching Events
Promoting Active Learning in the
Classroom Workshop
Wednesday, July 16th, 4:00-5:30 pm
Library 1140
Register at:
http://cft.uiowa.edu/teaching-assistants/taworkshop-series