IBL Critique

Inquiry based learning (henceforth referred to as IBL) is an inquisitive approach to science teaching, that uses questioning as its key component, encourages the development of problem solving skills through interactive involvement, and aims to grant a deeper understanding of the concept to be taught through the use of the five Es. Inquiry based learning is driven by the student, and can be used in a variety of ways, according to Boggess (http://assessment.tamu.edu/seminars/110807_Boggess.pdf); examples include group work, discussion, writing, using the web, activities inside and outside the classroom, engagement, and diversity. Although inclusion is not explicit within the IBL strategy, the fact that IBL is based around questioning assumes that the classroom is learning together, benefiting from the questions of others – in other words, that it conforms with the fundamental idea of group work. Through the IBL strategies, I and my partner created a wiki which aimed to teach to stage 3 aspects about river ecosystems. This critique will discuss each of the above mentioned examples and will demonstrate how, when and why they were used in the IBL strategy.

Teachers use IBL to encourage students to develop their research skills and the external bonds with other students in the class, using each student’s prior knowledge to enrich that of others. The benefits are highly applicable to Science, where the prior knowledge of individual students often varies greatly, and the interconnectedness of science to other subjects leave ample opportunities for integration and research. Science skills that are facilitated by IBL include “posing questions, planning, conducting and critiquing investigations, collecting, analysing and interpreting evi...

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... discussions was a highly effective tool throughout the wiki which makes the students more interested and the learning environment more supportive and diverse. Furthermore, the increased freedom in the final assessment task facilitated diversity within the experiment; however it is certainly arguable that more freedom could have been granted to the students, resulting in more diversity, while still staying within the acceptable guidelines of experimental safety.

In conclusion, while many aspects of the wiki could be improved, overall as a teaching and learning sequence using inquiry based learning it is adequate to teach stage 3 about river ecosystems. If I were given a similar task again I would aim to increase the interactivity of ICT integration and provide more extension activities to cater for the needs of each student while still encouraging diversity.