Inquiry Teaching

Many of us are designing our courses as we prepare for the upcoming fall term, some are exploring different teaching methods. This week, we would like to share a qualitative study by Alkaher and Dolan (2011), entitled "Instructors' Decisions That Integrate Inquiry Teaching Into Undergraduate Courses: How Do I Make This Fit?" The authors describe their pedagogical decisions and their rationale. They found that instructors made a range of decisions, including

• reorganizing course content and structure (to better align with teaching, allow more time for students to complete inquiry tasks, and better motivate students to engage in the inquiry);

• adding more opportunities for and models of inquiry practice (to improve students’ preparedness for completing inquiry tasks, enhance students’ understanding, better motivate students to engage in inquiry, and clarify their own expectations for students’ work);

• adding more opportunities for feedback and assessment (including small group, whole class, and out-of-class discussions); and

• enhancing scaffolding of the inquiry (either by simplifying the overall design or by fine-tuning protocols so that they could be more consistently implemented).

The authors recognized that many decisions reflected their responses to external factors, but also reflect their own development as teaching professionals. Ultimately, the results highlight the need for appropriate instructional preparation and support during inquiry teaching.

Alkaher, I. & Dolan, E. (2011) Instructors' decisions that integrate inquiry teaching into undergraduate courses: How do I make This fit?," International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 5(2), Article 9.

Available at: https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2011.050209