What is inquiry-based learning?
Young children love to ask questions. It’s one of the ways in which they make sense of the world and their place in it. Questions are also a powerful tool for educators to promote children’s thinking and learning. They exercise their sense of agency (or self control) and develop valuable and complex problem-solving skills. When children are able to pose questions and investigate the answers, they feel in charge of their own learning. |
Inquiry-based approaches to learning harness this spirit of investigation, creating an interesting, engaging and meaningful curriculum that uses children’s interests and questions as a starting point for effective learning.
Inquiry-based approaches reflect a view of the child as a constructor of their own knowledge and learning rather than simply as a passive recipient of someone else’s. This active view of the learning process reinforces the need for learning experiences that allow children the chance to follow their own interests and shape their own learning.
Unlike a theme-based approach, where a central question or idea provides the stimulus for a collection of pre-planned activities or experiences, inquiry tends to develop spontaneously as children engage with the original idea and then take it in their own direction. While educators plan with experiences and outcomes in mind, the essence of our curriculum is that it is responsive, flexible and open-ended, able to move with the children’s ideas and questions as they arise.
Inquiry-based approaches reflect a view of the child as a constructor of their own knowledge and learning rather than simply as a passive recipient of someone else’s. This active view of the learning process reinforces the need for learning experiences that allow children the chance to follow their own interests and shape their own learning.
Unlike a theme-based approach, where a central question or idea provides the stimulus for a collection of pre-planned activities or experiences, inquiry tends to develop spontaneously as children engage with the original idea and then take it in their own direction. While educators plan with experiences and outcomes in mind, the essence of our curriculum is that it is responsive, flexible and open-ended, able to move with the children’s ideas and questions as they arise.
Why? |
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How? |
Inquiry-based learning is supported when:
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