Inquiry Based Learning
The idea behind inquiry-based teaching in IB programmes is to develop students’ natural curiosity together with the skills of self-management, thinking, research and collaborative learning so that they can become motivated and autonomous lifelong learners.
The most significant aspect of inquiry-based teaching is that students are actively engaged in their own learning, constructing their own understandings of interesting issues and phenomena. In a classroom where inquiry-based teaching is happening, there is much interaction between students and between them and the teacher. The teacher’s primary role in such a setting is to promote questions and to facilitate the learning process. Students have a degree of freedom to make decisions about how to proceed in their learning process, which most often progresses from the concrete towards the abstract. Examples of forms of inquiry-based teaching include structured inquiry, open inquiry, experiential learning, problem-based learning and case-based learning.
Examples
Examples of inquiry-based teaching approaches and activities in global politics include:
- individual and group research tasks, case studies and presentations based on students’ own questions and areas of interest
- shorter inquiries stimulated by news and current events
- games in which students pursue various strategies in order to make progress with respect to a political issue but where the outcomes of the game are dependent on other players’ moves
- role plays in which students act as political decision-makers, advisors or commentators, perhaps over a period of time, treating different yet interdependent political issues
- TOK-style thinking with students in order to develop their collective curiosity
- readings and videos that emphasize the contested nature of knowledge and hence encourage questioning
- engagement with political actors through guest speakers and visits
Why use inquiry?
