using inquiry to extend learning at home |
what is inquiry?Inquiry : "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning."
Individuals carry on the process of inquiry from the time they are born even though they may not be conscious of it. Infants begin to make sense of the world by inquiring. From birth, babies observe faces that come near, they grasp objects, they put things in their mouths, and they turn toward voices. The process of inquiring begins with gathering information and data through applying the human senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. Thus, effective inquiry is more than just asking questions. It entails a complex process whereby individuals attempt to convert information and data into useful knowledge in order to understand the natural and human-designed worlds. Guided inquiry is used as the preferred method of instruction in the IBPYP. Content is delivered through modelling, interactive and hands-on tasks, utilizing research proven tools such as summarizing, identifying similarities and differences, practice, non-linguistic representations, cooperative activities, setting clear objectives and providing feedback, generating and testing hypotheses, questions, cues and advance organizers (Marzano, Pickering and Pollock, 2005). |