Inquiry Based Learning

Inquiry based learning is learning in the form of asking questions and answering your own questions. I have touched on this topic before so I will briefly discuss this topic again. Again I liked the videos presented. It really helps to see a visual example of inquiry based learning in different perspectives. The class that had an unit on wetlands had a great first hand experience. One interesting detail that the teacher used was that having the students visit the wetlands multiple times. The purpose of doing so was to help students to narrow their initial questions. With a more refined question, students focused on the topic of they're interested. Another video that showed great inquiry based learning was the paper and weights lab. Students had to hold up an one pound weight using the lightest possible piece of paper. The experiment was done mainly through trial and error. The students mainly worked amongst themselves within the group. This shows that working in cooperative groups is a great educational tool. The interactions between one another fuel the experiment towards the goal: lightest piece of paper to hold up an one pound weight. Again, the example illustrated a great authentic experience.