Inquiry-Based Learning

There is a saying, “tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will
understand.” This saying is the first thing that came in my mind when I think of inquiry-based learning.
Inquiry based learning is something that we have encountered ever since we are kids, it is something that
happens throughout our lives. Growing up, we always ask questions to make sense of what we see, feel,
taste, touch, hear, and of what we think of, because we want to understand how the things around us
really work, and we do this by asking questions. It is natural for us to inquire, during the process of inquiry,
we continuously think and search for answers so that we could find meaning on what surrounds us

Inquiry starts with one question, but because of the traditional methods of learning in our schools
today, inquiry somehow being thrown away. The traditional methods in learning in our school is a linear
process of learning, where in students solve the problems that are given to them by simply doing what
they have memorized or by the things that are just fed to them. In the traditional method of learning, the
Teachers role is to provide all the information from the textbooks to the students in a step by step process.
Students intelligence are now measured through recitation and through examinations of what they have
memorized. Inquiry-based learning doesn’t only change the traditional method of learning, from linear to
non-linear, but it also evolves it through actively involving students, through live interactions between
teachers and students, and by giving chances to students to express and construct what they want to
know about a certain topic through their own knowledge or through asking. Learning through asking,
investigating solutions, getting new knowledge as they gather solutions to their problems, discussing what
they know, and lastly through applying or reflecting the knowledge that they have obtained to their selves,
inquiry-based learning is at hand. Inquiry-based learning is not based on teachers spoon-feeding what
they want their students to learn, but rather, they help students interpret, synthesize, and evaluate what
they have learned. Teachers have a large role in inquiry-based learning, they act as the facilitators which
help students to build an inquisitive mind. Teachers will activate students minds through enhancing the
capability of their students to express or show what they have in mind. Through this process, teachers will
be able to interact with their students more and a bond with the students, which will make learning easier
for the students because they will be able to search for more answers to what problem they are facing,
they will be able to discuss what they have searched, and lastly students will be able to learn more making
it easier for students to learn more things.

Through inquiry-based learning, students will be able to learn more and forget less, inquiry-based
learning will make students grow with the ability to find their own solutions to the problem that they are
facing, rather than finding someone else to give them solutions to their problems, through inquiry-based
learning students will be able to think independently without relying on others to feed them knowledge
that they want. Inquiry-based learning is the method that we should use rather than the traditional way
of thinking so that students will grow to be what they want to be, not what others want them to be.
Inquiry-based learning is the key in learning efficiently.