As presented by the Government of Ontario in their Capacity Building Series, “Inquiry-based learning is an approach to teaching and learning that places students’ questions, ideas and observations at the center of the learning experience” (2013). The basic premise of this learning design is to encourage both students and their educators to share responsibility throughout the learning process (Government of Ontario, 2013). Throughout this process educators actively work to ensure that the educational environment is one where students are deeply supported and openly encouraged to go beyond basic educational requirements and deeply question all that they are being taught. This moves students from a “position of wondering to a position of enacted understanding and further questioning” (Scardamalia, 2002).  

This process often requires students to be “creative problem-solvers” and engage in “evidence-based reasoning” (Government of Ontario, 2013). As educators, we aim to do this by providing ample opportunity for the students of our course to move beyond their initial curiosity and into a state of inquiry. We do this in our course by finding creative ways of presenting subject material to our students (i.e. video, blog posts, or more formal readings in textbooks and articles). We also do this by encouraging students to learn at their own pace, and through a flexible online platform to provide them the freedom and ability to explore their curiosities throughout the entire duration of the course.

Some additional examples of how we encourage inquiry-based learning in our course are:

  • Encourage students to discuss core learning material as well as peripheral learning material with instructors
  • Encouraging students to engage online with classmates, in online forums, about core course material and peripheral learning material
  • Encouraging students to actively seek out, and then share, peripheral leaning material with classmates freely within our online forums
  • Encouraging students to question what they are learning and how it may be applied to different situations within their everyday lives

References: 

Government of Ontario. (2013). Capacity building series.

Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. Liberal education in a knowledge society, 97, 67-98.