Inquiry-Based Learning

Inquiry-based learning is a dynamic, iterative, and developmental process whereby students formulate and explore questions of interest and create a final work or product.

Throughout the inquiry process, students build and develop generic and discipline-specific skills. They will draw on diverse forms of information^[1] in their exploration, and learn how it can be evaluated, organized, analyzed, synthesized, created, communicated, and applied. This recursive and challenging immersion demands continual reflection, analysis, and synthesis. It ultimately leads to the clarification of ideas and results in a culminating work appropriate to the purpose of the inquiry project.

(Queen’s University & Laverty, C., 2019)

The content for this module is adapted from the Inquiry-Based Learning and Undergraduate Research: Approaches and Resources guide prepared by Queen’s University’s Centre for Teaching and Learning, Dr. Corinne Laverty (2019), where inquiry-based learning is an integrated part of the undergraduate experience. To learn more about the practice of inquiry-based learning at the university level and to find additional resources, check out the Inquiry-Based Learning and Undergraduate Research: Approaches and Resources^[2] guide.

Why Inquiry-Based Learning?

When students were surveyed about their experience with inquiry-based learning at Queen’s University, they shared their perspectives on the following benefits:

Application of Knowledge: Exposure to a specific field of research offers insight into current job opportunities and applying course knowledge to real-world problems.

Personal Development: Pursuing their own research topics helps uncover interests and direct a career path based on what they liked or did not like about the project.

Transferable Skills: Transferable skills such as research techniques, problem-solving skills, utilization of resources, critical thinking, data interpretation, time management, reading scientific journals, creativity, and presentation skills are further developed.

The Inquiry Process

Created by educators in Australia, the following diagram can be a helpful resource for students, as they embark on the inquiry learning process:

Learning is scaffolded across the inquiry process using the following steps:

Formulate inquiry questions

Practice formulating research questions:

• Brainstorm possible questions related to the problem
• Generate group questions under themes
• Separate your What, How, and Why questions
• Separate major and subsidiary questions
• Eliminate unnecessary questions
• Operationalize any theoretical or technical terms. That is, define terminology and how you are interpreting specific concepts. Students must fully understand the meaning of the questions they are posing because it will shape the direction of the type of information they will seek, where they will look for it, and how they will evaluate it.

Research skills

• Share aspects of the research process that you find difficult.
• Break down the assignment into chunks: developing a research plan with timelines; completing an annotated bibliography with peer review of citations; getting feedback on the first draft; giving a one-minute presentation in class; contributing a poster.

Unpack academic integrity

• What does academic integrity mean in your discipline and how does it relate to the specific inquiry assignment at hand (campus partner presentation: academic integrity).
• Review different ways to take notes and approaches to summarizing information.
• Be aware of plagiarism and accidental plagiarism and know how to avoid it.
• Keep track of research citations (library guides and formats)
• Access the Academic Integrity Guide at your university

Map an information-gathering strategy

• Engage with a university librarian to walk through approaches to gathering and evaluating information for your project (campus partner presentation: library resources)
• Create a map of the types of research tools that will be used during the project and the form of information they offer. You will also need to explore grey literature: information produced outside of traditional publishing and distribution channels, including reports, policy literature, working papers, newsletters, government documents, speeches, white papers, urban plans, and so on.
• Search for a useful article on your topic and demonstrate the strategy you used to find and evaluate it.

Evaluate information sources

• Work in groups to determine criteria for evaluating the types of information needed for your projects.
• Be aware of “fake news” and reflect on the channels by which we receive information and the means by which we assess whether something is actually true.
• While academic assignments reinforce the use of “scholarly” works,
• Consider the process of peer review but also how that process privileges certain forms of information.

Supports for inquiry-based learning across campus

Personal Help:

Individual liaison librarians are available to introduce and review inquiry skills appropriate to specific assignments. They also provide online subject guides and tutorials to disciplinary research tools and resources.

Writing Centre:

As a part of Student Academic Success Services, the Writing Centre team provides assistance through one-on-one appointments and on-site or in-class workshops. Their goal is to improve students’ writing skills at any stage of the process.

Adaptive Technology Centre

The Adaptive Technology Centre (Accessibility Services) supports students with a physical or learning disability, injury, concussion, or mental health disorder. Supports include note-taking services, speech-to-text and text-to-speech software, recording devices, or organizational assistance.

Inquiry Project:

Students will engage in an open-ended inquiry project focused on a particular theme. Choose a relevant theme for your course or engage students in a process to choose a theme together. This can be discipline-specific, a theme from the broader community context, or a global issue that impacts all of us, such as Re-Imagining Post Pandemic Life (TransitionU Course Theme, 2022)

Once you have chosen a theme for your course, students will:

• Choose an individual inquiry topic/question/focus
• Gather resources from a variety of sources
• Interpret findings and begin drafting representation of their learning
• Share findings in Inquiry Presentation (small groups or recordings)