Nature of Inquiry-Based Learning

 Inquiry, in its simplest definition, is a process of asking

questions.
 According to the Future of Jobs Report during the World
Economic Forum, the top three of the ten skills needed in
this age are complex problem solving, critical thinking and
creativity (Gray, 2016) which all start from the process of
asking.
 as an approach essentially involves tasks requiring
learners' active participation in finding answers to
curricular questions.
 Inquiry-based learning is a learning process that engages
students by making real-world connections through
exploration and high-level questioning.

Types of Inquiry

VIU (2020) presented four types of inquiry that can be

used in facilitating classes. These are:

1. Structured Inquiry - This lets the students follow the

lead of the teacher as the entire class engages in one inquiry
together.

2. Controlled Inquiry - The teacher chooses topics and

identifies the resources that the students will use to answer
questions.

3. Guided Inquiry - The teacher chooses topics or

questions and students design the product or solution.

4. Free Inquiry - Students are allowed to choose their own

topics without any reference to a prescribed outcome.
Role of the Teacher

 The success of IBL largely depends on the careful planning

of the teacher in relation to the curriculum.
 He/she controls and prepares the topic for investigation
and guides the learners by setting the questions to be
explored.


When designing an IBL, the teacher has to consider the

following fields proposed by Avsec and Kocijncic (2016):

1. Prior knowledge and capacity

2. Context-Learners require meaning from experience.

3. Content and learning materials

4. Process

5. Strategy of reactions and behavior

6. Course outcomes

Role of Technology

 The internet or the World Wide Web offers lots of

platforms for mining information. It has become the most
sought out source of information because of the variety of
tools that abound.
 many free educational websites
 The technology tools that are made available for the
learners, whether online or offline, should support the
 object of inquiry which is aligned to the learning
competencies in the K to 12 Language Curriculum.
 It should be noted that the use of technology in IBL is just
one of the many other sources of information in the
process of inquiry.

Nature of Problem-Based Learning

 Problem-based learning is an approach that involves a

process of inquiry and solving open-ended questions that
serve as the main problem that the learners will work on.
 This learning activity is done in small groups with each
member assigned a certain task to accomplish.
 they learn several skills such as problem- solving,
communicating, research, among others which are
essential in the workplace.
 The end goal of PBL is to ensure that the target, the
learning competencies, are achieved in the process.
 The student examines the problem given by the educator
and produces solutions for the problem by using both his
previous knowledge and the knowledge obtained by
researching.
 Example : discussing snowmen and then asking a guiding
question, such as “How do we make a snowman?
 Why useful to teachers? PBL units can not only empower
students but also ignite excitement for learning,
discovering, and questioning, which also brings educators
much-needed energy.

five principles of PBL that may be considered by teachers

in planning or using the approach:

1. It is a power of independent and self-directed learning.

 2. Learning happens in a group and teacher is a facilitator.

3. All groups have to participate equally.

4. Students' learn about motivation, teamwork, problem-

solving and engagement with the task.

5. Materials such as data, photographs, articles, can be

used to solve the problem. (p. 73)

Lo (2009, p. 208) proposed a six-stage process used in the

adoption of the online PBL:

1. Identifying the problem current issues that do not have just

one answer or one definite solution;

2. Brainstorming generate ideas; tackle the problem through

self- directed questioning; arouse students' intrinsic motivation;

3. Collecting and analyzing the information-assigning group

members to collect information; posting what they found and what
they learned; collaborative collection of useful information;

4. Synthesizing information-solving synthesized relevant data;

knowledge building;

5. Co-building knowledge-presentation of the solution learning

problem/ issue; and to the

6. Refining the outcomes giving of feedback and suggestions

by the instructor to help students improve; learning from other
group's presentation.
Role of Technology

 As the learners embark on an open-ended question

collaboratively, there are a number of free online tools that
they can use from the commencement of the task to its
completion
 The WWW has opportunities for PBL that can be utilized
by the learners to accomplish their tasks.
 Productivity tools such as those for writing, presentations,
spreadsheets, calendars, organizers, citations and others
are also available to assist learners and teachers in
accomplishing required tasks and outputs from a PBL
activity
Nature of Project-Based Learning/ Project-Based Approach

 Project-based learning is an approach but has evolved as a

teaching method that engages learners in a series of
planned tasks resulting to the generation of solutions to
real-world problems.
 This method is based on John Dewey's principle of learning by doing
and Vygotsky's constructivist theory of learning that advocates
social construction of knowledge

Past and more recent researches have proven PrBL to be beneficial in the
development of various skills such as:

1. Research methodology skills

PrBL could cause 100% enhancement of knowledge on the various

components of research methodology, update of the knowledge on a
particular topic, and increase in interaction with students.

2. Oral communicative competence

They also concluded that PrBL as a teaching strategy is effective
and is recommended as, suitable English language teaching
strategy especially for learners with low proficiency in the
English language.

3. Development of life skills

skills: responsibility, problem solving, self-direction,
communication, and creativity skills.