Santa Monica Institute of Tech.

Andrada Bldg. Poblacion, Iligan City Module 1

Week 1

Senior High School

Practical Research 1
2nd Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021 Instructor: Ceasar Ian H. Mundala

Introduction
Practical Research is one of the subjects in senior high school which aims to develop your critical
thinking and problem solving skills. You probably know that at the end of this course, you will submit your
research output during the culminating activity. Don’t worry about your research assignment. You will learn
everything about conducting research step by step. To start, let us find out how well you know doing
researches.

Pe Inquiry and Research are two terms that are almost the same in meaning. Both involve investigative
work in which you seek information about something by searching or examining the object of your search.
Inquiry is to look for information by asking various questions about the thing you are curious about while

rD research is to discover truths by investigating on your chosen topic scientifically; meaning, by going through
a systematic way of doing things wherein you are to begin from the simplest to the most complex modes or
patterns of thinking.

ev Intended Learning Outcomes

MO At the end of this module, you will be able to:

1. use some new terms you have learned in expressing their worldviews freely;
2. explain your understanding of the term “inquiry”;

DU 3. outline all the ideas you have learned about inquiry;

4. infer about societal issues through speculative thinking;
5. enumerate the benefits of inquiry-based learning;

LE 6. identify a question as simple or complex based on the kind of thinking it elicits from you; and
7. compose an essay to prove the extent of your understanding of inquiry

Discussion

Unit 1: Nature of Inquiry and Research

Lesson 1: Nature of Inquiry

Connecting Concepts
Linking Old and New Knowledge

Activity A: Making Words Meaningful

Directions: Complete the bubble graph or concept map by writing words associated with the middle word.
Be guided by the clues in the sentences below each graph.

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 The detectives need more time to inquire about the case.

Pe The witness’ statement is crucial to the solution of the case.

rD
ev
MO
DU The continuous presence of your name on the Dean’s List guarantees a good future
for you.
LE Activity B: Using Newly Learned Words
Directions: Use the new words from Activity A in sentences and write them below

Stirring Up Imagination
What comes to your mind upon reading the selection’s title, Inquiry-based Learning? Make inferences about
this selection.

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 Discovering More Concepts
Read the following selection to see how correct your guesses are about the inquiry.

INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

Meaning of Inquiry
Learning is your way of obtaining knowledge about your surroundings. This takes place in many ways, and
one of these is inquiry, which many people in the field of education consider effective. Inquiry is a learning
process that motivates you to obtain knowledge or information about people, things, places, or events. You do
this by investigating or asking questions about something you are inquisitive about.

It requires you to collect data, meaning, facts, and information about the object of your inquiry, and
examine such data carefully. In your analysis, you execute varied thinking strategies that range from lower-order
to higher-order thinking skills such as inferential, critical, integrative, and creative thinking. These are top-level
thinking strategies that you ought to perform in discovering and understanding the object of your inquiry.

Pe Engaging yourself in many ways of thinking, you come to conclude that inquiry is an active learning process.

Putting you in a situation where you need to probe, investigate, or ask questions to find answers or

rD solutions to what you are worried or doubtful about, inquiry is a problem-solving technique. Solving a problem
by being inquisitive, you tend to act like scientists who are inclined to think logically or systematically in seeking
evidence to support their conclusions about something. Beginning with whatever experience or background

ev knowledge you have, you proceed like scientists with your inquiry by imagining, speculating, interpreting,
criticizing, and creating something out of what you discovered. bling you to arrive at a particular idea or
understanding that will motivate you to create something unique, new, or innovative for your personal growth as

MO well as for the world. Inquisitive thinking allows you to shift from one level of thought to another. It does not go
in a linear fashion; rather, it operates in an interactive manner.

DU Solving a problem, especially social issues, does not only involve yourself but other members of the
society too. Hence, inquiry, as a problem-solving technique, includes cooperative learning because any
knowledge from members of the society can help to make the solution. Whatever knowledge you have about your

LE world bears the influence of your cultural, sociological, institutional, or ideological understanding of the world.
(Badke 2012)

Governing Principles or Foundation of Inquiry

Inquiry-based Learning gets its support from these three educational theories serving as its foundation:
John Dewey’s theory of connected experiences for exploratory and reflective thinking; Lev Vygotsky’s Zone
of Proximal Development (ZPD) that stresses the essence of provocation and scaffolding in learning; and
Jerome Bruner’s theory on learners’ varied world perceptions for their own interpretative thinking of people
and things around them. Backed up by all these theories, inquiry, as a way of learning, concerns itself with
these elements: changing knowledge, creativity, subjectivity, socio-cultural factors, sensory experience, and
higher-order thinking strategies. All of these are achievable through the inquiry methods of fieldwork, case
studies, investigations, individual group project, and research work. (Small 2012)

Benefits of Inquiry-Based Learning

In conclusion, you can say that Inquiry-based Learning gives you the following advantages:
1. Elevates interpretative thinking through graphic skills
2. Improves student learning abilities

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 3. Widens learners’ vocabulary
4. Facilitates problem-solving acts
5. Increases social awareness and cultural knowledge
6. Encourages cooperative learning
7. Provides mastery of procedural knowledge
8. Encourages higher-order thinking strategies
9. Hastens conceptual understanding
10. Educators, businessmen, and other professionals consider all these benefits of Inquiry - based Learning in
various fields of knowledge to be crucial to the success of anyone in the 21st Century.

Therefore, knowing the ins and outs of Inquiry-based Learning will greatly guide you in deciding which
learning method will guarantee successful learning in the present world, which is tagged by many as the Era
of Globalization, Age of Knowledge Explosion, Age of Consumerism, Digital Age, Age of Instant World,
etc.

Explaining Learned Concepts

Pe Activity C
Directions: Explain your understanding of inquiry by answering the following questions intelligently.
1. Compare and contrast the three foundation theories behind Inquiry-based Learning.

rD _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

ev
2. Describe one who thinks in a linear fashion.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

MO 3. How do you learn something through inquiry?

_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

DU 4. Why is inquiry a scientific way of thinking?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

LE _______________________________________________________________________________________

5. In your opinion, is this an effective learning method? Why or why not?

_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

6. What kind of thinking is involved in this learning method?

_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
7. Do you agree that inquiring on something means you are researching about
it? Explain your point.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
8. Was there an instance in your life when you, too, did a sort of an inquiry or
research? Describe your experience.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
9. Do you know someone in your school or community who often does this
kind of learning? Describe how he or she did it.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
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 Activity D
Directions: Some of the following questions will require more complex thinking while some demand simple or less
thinking. Put a check (/) on the questions that require more complex thinking and put an X to those that trigger simple
and less thinking.
________1. What’s the color of your gown?
________2. Who bought your gown?
________3. Why are some graduating students not willing to wear gowns?
________4. Which memo are you talking about?
________5. Do you agree that Mr. Cruz was the one who wrote the memo?
________6. Which article seems intriguing to the graduates?
________7. What is inside the pocket of the green gown?
________8. Who owns the gown?
________9. How can the gown make you look more attractive?
________10. Should you wear a gown during the graduation ball?

Elaborating Learned Concepts

Activity E

Pe Directions: On a one whole sheet of paper, present your understanding of inquiry through a topical outline that uses
either the traditional system (using Roman numerals, letters, and numbers) or the modern numbering system (using
Arabic numbers).

rD Activity F
Directions: Speculations: What is the latest update regarding the COVID-19 in your area. Prove how inquisitive you

ev
are by raising 10 top-level probing questions about it.

Assessing the Extent of Concept Learning

Using numbers 1 to 5, rank the following based on how much you understood
MO each given topic.
_______ Elements of Inquiry
_______ Process of Inquiry

DU _______ Definition of Inquiry

_______ Underlying Theories of Inquiry
_______ Scientific Thinking

LE Transforming Learned Competencies

Assessment: Email
Create an essay about inquiry-based learning and email this to my e-mail address neo.rasaec@gmail.com.

Resources and Additional Resources

 Faith Joy Floro Cosip (2018 October 17). Practical-Research-1.pdf. Retrieved From:
https://www.scribd.com/document/391025835