What are some challenges to inquiry approaches to
learning?
There are a few challenges to
inquiry approaches to learning that occur.
One challenge is that teachers do not have the skills and knowledge to
complete a lesson using the inquiry approach.
Teachers are used to being the person who is directing the lesson and
giving all of the information. In
inquiry-based learning, students are constructing their own knowledge through designing
a model of solving a problem. Teachers
may think that the approach is “unstructured” and may result in the lesson
failing because the teacher is not using the proper assessment, redirection or
scaffolding. Another challenge that occurs
during inquiry approach learning is that students find it hard to work together
in a group and to manage their time.
Students are not given enough information or the proper tools to
complete a certain task, or they may not have the background information or prerequisite
to complete the inquiry task. Through
research, they found out that teachers have a hard time deciding if the
students are getting the information they are supposed to out of the project
because they can only hear one small group discussion at a time. A whole group discussion did not take place
and therefore the teacher did not know if the information was learned. Another thing they found out through research
was that students need more specific prompts to justifying their decision when
completing a certain task or solving a problem.
Inquiry-based learning takes a lot of pre-planning before class and then
puts the emphasis on the students instead of the teacher. It takes a lot of careful planning and many
strategies such as collaboration, classroom interaction, and assessment is
developed.
Source:
Barron, Darling-Hammond, B. ,. (2008).
Teaching for meaningful learning. (pp. 1-8).
Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/ e
dutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf
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