Examples Of Reflective Inquiry

Summary of article
This article justifies why inquiry is the best method to learn social studies and summarizes how inquiry can be applied in the primary classroom. Inquiry makes it natural for students to be inquisitive and be motivated to ask about things that interest them (Dewey, 1916). Furthermore, it builds up skills as students go through the problem solving process. On the contrary, the authors are aware of the very few teachers who practice inquiry because it can be time- consuming, difficult to cover syllabus, requires high proficiency in content and training in teaching strategies. Although Dewey (1993) argues that reflective inquiry is practiced daily, it is still challenging for teachers to implement inquiry in a classroom setting. Thus teachers can practice inquiry by introducing a dilemma starting with a doubt. These problems will then be meaningful and real for students to appreciate and take ownership to solve them.
Vanfossen and Shirley recommend three categories of inquiry-based instruction to make inquiry problems more meaningful.
a. Curiosity driven
The first class of inquiry problems taps on students’ curiosity when they come across unfamiliar information (Maxim, 1995). For every deduction (hypothesis) students obtain from solving the problem, they must support with evidence to draw a conclusion. The author gave tangible examples such as questioning cultural artifacts.
b. Conflicting data or perspectives
It portrays how questions are derived from