What is inquiry-based learning?

Inquiry-based learning refers to "the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work." It is built on three main stages: 

1. Questioning 
2. Formulating a hypothesis and conducting research
3. Structuring knowledge

This process actively engages students in solving problems related to observable phenomena around them. By formulating hypotheses, students are encouraged to think critically, experiment, and seek answers based on scientific facts.

PHASE 1: QUESTIONING

The aim of this phase is to provide students with opportunities to ask questions about different phenomena in their environment. The processes of questioning, drawing comparisons, and highlighting discrepancies will not only capture the students’ attention and foster engagement, but also introduce a problem they must solve. The teacher’s role during this phase is to guide the discussion, helping students become aware of the problem and encouraging them to explore ways in which they can address it. The teacher should ask open-ended questions to support students in developing their scientific and critical thinking skills.

PHASE 2: FORMULATING A HYPOTHESIS AND CONDUCTING RESEARCH

Using their experience and/or knowledge, students are encouraged to provide plausible explanations, which in turn, will lead to the formulation of their hypotheses. To enable students to accept or reject their hypotheses, they are given opportunities to conduct specific experiments and/or documentary research. The research phase starts when the credibility of a theory needs to be tested.

Students can develop ideas or theories (using what they think they know and understand to explain a certain phenomenon). During this phase, students work alone or in groups to investigate solutions to the problem raised. This involves testing the hypothesis they have chosen. If experimenting, modeling, or direct observation are not possible, documentary research and even interviewing an expert will enable students to validate or dismiss their hypothesis.

Sometimes, students need to alternate between questioning and research before finding a solution and constructing new knowledge. Class and group discussions play a key role in structuring students’ knowledge. During discussions, the teacher’s role is to support dialogue among students.

PHASE 3: STRUCTURING KNOWLEDGE

It is important for students to summarize their key findings. We recommend that the teacher allow the students to draw their own conclusions based on the work they did in class. The class conclusion, emerging after a discussion of the different interpretations, should ideally be a consensual one. The teacher may act as a facilitator to help reach this conclusion if needed. An essential step in the inquiry-based approach, which is often overlooked, is to compare the knowledge created in class (the class conclusions) with established knowledge. This work can be done autonomously by comparing the students’ conclusions with a stable body of scientific knowledge.

Source: Academy of Rennes 

The potential steps of an explicit inquiry-based approach 

The goal of explicit teaching is to empower students to learn and practice autonomously, including tackling ambitious and challenging tasks (such as using scientific models). It should therefore be seen as a necessary condition for successfully carrying out inquiry tasks, which will arise at the right time—that is, when students have gained some expertise in the subject matter.

Scientific experimentation is only one modality of this approach,  meaning it can just as easily be applied in the library or in French class!