Right now I am at a point where I am unsure how to proceed with my research. I read a lot of literature on inquiry-based instruction for the first draft of my literature review. In that draft I cited 18 sources that were a mix of peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles. I'm wondering if I should try to make my research more specific to a certain topic rather than have articles that address the curriculum broadly that give examples of inquiry based instruction applied to geography, writers workshop, science etc. I am also having problems with the different definitions of inquiry and I'm wondering if I should adopt one definition to focus on. For example, some researchers like to associate inquiry-based instruction with problem based learning (PBL), while other find these two instructional approaches completely different. I think some of these questions will be answered after we receive feedback on the first draft of our lit review.
Another problem I am having is how to tailor my research question. I want my question to capture inquiry-based instruction as a practice that can be applied across the curriculum and also look at how it may promote student participation and conceptual understanding. I'm wondering if I should be more specific. As of now these are some of my ideas:
- Does inquiry-based practice foster
student engagement and participation?
- How does inquiry-based practice
influence student learning in regard to conceptual problem solving and
content understandings?
- How can inquiry-based instruction be
implemented to meet students’ cultural or
individual learning needs (i.e. ELLs)?
In class last Wednesday I read an article (Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-Based and Inquiry Learning: A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark) which was written in response to another article that argued against "the minimally guided approach" associated with IL (inquiry learning). Although it was interesting, I'm wondering if I am going off track with my research. Part of this is because there haven't been too many studies on inquiry-based instruction in the elementary setting or as a cross disciplinary practice. A large portion of the research has been on medical students or college students.
By the questions you are asking, I can tell you're deep into your lit review process. These are all different ways of "slicing" the literature. You could organize your lit review by themes based upon the different ways of defining inquiry based learning. You could also look at themes that cut across these different definitions and critiques of this type of learning could also be a section.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I have the same problem of having multiple definitions of a concept by different researchers. I still haven't decided the answer, and plan to conference with Jolynn about it. Maybe I will join your conference group! I am thinking that a definition that is not too specific or different from other's definitions will be suitable, and some researchers overlap some aspects of their definitions.
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