Inquiry Based Learning Examples for Busy Teachers
You know the drill by now, I’m sure. Getting students curious about a topic and engaged in their learning is no mean feat. Lesson after lesson follows the same old pattern - introduce a topic, ask a student what they want to know, then sit back and wait for the “dunno”s and “not sure”s to roll in. Easy peasy, inquiries done.
What if we told you that there was a way to get students curious about their learning? That, by shifting the structure of your lessons, you could get your students not only asking questions, but answering them too? Enter inquiry based learning - the teaching method that promises to turn your students from passive recipients to active participants. In this article we’ll explain how it works, we’ll apply it to ESL lessons, and we’ll provide you with some inquiry based learning examples to inspire your future lesson plan creation.
What Actually Is Inquiry Based Learning?
When it comes to inquiry based learning, method is inseparable from mission: to understand how it works, we need to understand what it sets out to do. Its goals are fairly lofty - as a teaching method, it aims to transfer agency from teacher to student, to ignite curiosity in pupils and to make students active participants in the discovery of new knowledge.
Put simply it is a student-centered approach that encourages learners to investigate questions and problems, fostering their ability to independently construct knowledge and understanding.
In order to achieve these aims, teachers may design an inquiry-based learning lesson that follows the following four steps:
Observation and questioning: the teacher introduces a topic and students formulate questions on what they would like to know about it.
Investigation: students look for answers to their questions, learning more about their subject.
Conclusion: students use their research to draw conclusions and develop answers to their questions.
Discussion/Sharing: students present their findings to their teacher and to each other, receiving and answering follow up questions.
Throughout the inquiry, teachers play a vital role, subtly but purposefully keeping students on track and engaged. They encourage student questioning and model what it means to be curious, they direct students towards reliable research sources, and they lead discussions and clarify conclusions. Like any traditional lesson, teachers are ever-present; the difference here is that they guide rather than lead their students’ learning.
Inquiry Based Learning Examples and Activities
Theory is all well and good, but how might this actually work in an ESL lesson? What might students possibly be able to research in a language that is unfamiliar to them? To better visualize this, let’s take a look at some inquiry-based learning examples.
As an ESL teacher, you should start by deciding on a topic of interest as a framework on which to hang your inquiry-based learning lesson. Topics might be as diverse as food, festivals, birthday celebrations, or work life balance - just make sure that it’s something that you can discuss in length, compare and contrast and get stuck into researching.
For this inquiry-based learning example, we’ll run with “culture” as our topic of choice - something broad and easy to get curious about. Here’s what an inquiry-based ESL lesson on “culture” might look like, and what inquiry-based learning activities it might include:
Step 1: Observation and questioning
Objective: To practice formulating questions and using vocabulary related to culture.
Activity: Ask students to think about what they like about their own culture, and what they are curious about in other cultures. Ask them to think of two or three questions that they would like to know about another culture.
Questions might include:
What is the school system like in [country]?
What foods do people eat for breakfast in [country]?
Step 2: Investigation
Objective: To practice reading and comprehension skills.
Activity: Guide the student as they research their chosen questions. Provide a list of ESL-friendly, trusted resources for them to look through. Make sure they are taking notes!
Step 3: Conclusion
Objective: To practice organizing and summarizing information in English.
Activity: Ask students to summarize their research and collate their findings. They may choose to write short paragraphs, or to create simple powerpoint presentations with pictures.
Step 4: Discussion/Sharing
Objective: To practice speaking in English.
Activity: Ask the student to present their findings to you. Ask them follow up questions, such as:
What was surprising or interesting about their discoveries?
Are there any similarities and differences between their own culture and the one that they researched?
What new phrases or words did they learn?
Simple, right? It’s easy to see how learning in this way would get students excited and interested - far more so, at least, than a traditional vocab test on cultural elements.
Taking It Online
Just like any other classroom tactic shifted to the online space, the change brings with it a host of pros and cons. Online, students have the internet at their fingertips, with digital resources a click away and games easy to access. Research might get easier with laptops readily available, and the commonality of one-on-one interaction allows direct and constant access to a teacher.
There is, however, one element of inquiry-based learning that is often missing from the online, individual lesson. Without peers sat either side of their desk, students lack the easy access to group discussion and interaction that is a key inquiry-based learning activity. To ensure this doesn’t happen, you may need to play a more active role as teacher in their inquiry, discussing their research as they go and prompting them to dig deeper or to ask more questions. Using interactive tools (such as screen sharing, virtual whiteboards, and annotations) can engage students further, while personalizing the topics for each student to align with their interests can increase enthusiasm even when they are working alone.
What Are The Benefits Of Inquiry Based Learning?
It is students who take the reins when engaging in inquiry-based learning, and it is students who reap the rewards. The benefits of inquiry-based learning include improving student engagement (even increasing their chances of finishing school), increasing student mastery of subject matter (since they get to practice and test their knowledge) and improving knowledge retention.
There are rewards for teachers too, who find that inquiry based learning activities help them gain a deeper understanding of their students. And it makes sense - since students are the ones speaking in the lesson, teachers get a rare chance to sit back and observe, witnessing in real time the methods that their students use to problem solve, theorize, and investigate.
It is worth noting that there are some drawbacks to inquiry based learning activities. It can be somewhat time consuming, (taking more time to plan and execute), resource intensive (requiring access to more support and materials), heavy-handed on the preparation (where teachers need to prepare well for every lesson and work hard to manage classrooms) and hard to measure (since it’s separate from standardized testing).
The Golden Rules: Getting Inquiry Based Learning Perfect
Method and mission memorized, inquiry based learning examples secured: we’re sure that you're raring to put it all into practice after this article, and can’t wait to plan those ESL lessons. Before you do, we’d like to share with you some golden rules for inquiry based learning, some top tips to remember as you launch into this new style of lesson.
Remember to ask follow-up questions, guiding students towards answers rather than handing them to them. Keep your questions open-ended to avoid “yes and no” answers.
Keep intros to concepts short and sweet. Leave as much lesson time as possible for student inquiry.
Get curious yourself! You have a chance to model lifelong learning to your students here.
Reflect at the end of lessons. Ask students how they found the process of inquiry based learning, and what it made them think and feel.