Inclusion is a hot topic nowadays but all too often, we focus on specific tips and strategies to help individual learners. While it can be useful to consider each learner as an individual and provide them with a personalised learning plan, this approach is difficult to implement and time-consuming – and we all know how busy a teacher’s schedule is!
Choosing an approach that is flexible enough to meet all learners’ needs is a far better strategy for an inclusive classroom. One such approach is inquiry-based learning.
What is inquiry-based learning?
Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a learner-centred approach which starts with an essential question. Learners investigate the topic to find answers to the question, developing language and skills throughout the inquiry. The learner plays an active part in both their learning and the decision-making process.
At the heart of inquiry-based learning is curiosity and a desire to find out more. With younger learners in particular, this approach appeals to their inquisitive nature and allows them to learn and use English in real and meaningful ways.
Why inquiry-based learning?
Many different approaches are used in the world of language learning but not all are best suited to every learner. Inquiry-based learning allows students to take their learning in different directions best suited to their interests and skills.
As it is such a flexible approach, IBL can work with everyone. When implemented properly, it is a multimodal approach which offers lots of options for learning in different ways.
It makes language learning real. Learners are researching a topic they are actually interested in. The language they learn during the inquiry helps them find out new information that they didn’t have before.
The whole point of IBL is to learn something new through asking questions. To start with, students need to identify what they already know and what they don’t know. This part of the process will help learners come up with new questions that they don’t know the answers to. And finding answers to our questions is extremely motivating!
How is IBL inclusive?
If we look at the statistics, it is likely that one or more students in any given class will be neurodivergent. But what does neurodiversity mean? It’s actually an umbrella term that embraces the differences in the way people’s brains work.
Some students may have a Specific Learning Difference such as Dyslexia, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
These learning differences may mean that students find certain types of activity challenging. Some of the things students may have difficulties with are attention, organisation, working memory, time management, sensory perception and speed of processing.
All these things affect how the learning process happens. This means that something you might consider a simple task, like copying a sentence from the board or reading a short text, can be challenging for some neurodivergent learners.
But these differences in the way the brain works also bring lots of strengths, including creative and lateral thinking, resourcefulness, empathy and problem-solving skills. IBL allows students and teachers space for these skills.
Read more about Specific Learning Differences in this article.
Inquiry-based learning allows us to centre the activities around the learners’ individual skills because it is not tied to a set of activities on the page. An inquiry can be done in a single lesson or over a whole term, depending on the level and type of inquiry.
Students can find information in a range of resources using different media such as video, audio and artwork as well as texts. The inquiry can also take place in small groups, pairs, individually or with the whole class.
How to implement IBL in your classroom
An inquiry usually follows the inquiry cycle, a set of stages that take place in a specific order. These stages are:
- Question & Plan
- Research & Discover
- Organise & Present
- Reflect
Question & Plan
Let’s imagine the unit in your course book is on the topic of animals. You’ll need to start your inquiry with an essential question, for example:
How can we protect the wildlife in our local area?
You can start by asking the question and brainstorming ideas. From what we know about learning theory, prior knowledge is key, so use this stage to activate schema and generate vocabulary.
Find out what students know in terms of language and content, and also what they don’t know. This will help you tailor the question according to their prior knowledge. After all, there’s no point in starting an inquiry about something students already know!
With such a wide question, try breaking it down into narrower questions, e.g.
- Which animals live in the area?
- What dangers are there?
- What solutions can we bring?
Students will need to find out information to answer each question in order to answer the essential question.
You could then write the questions on an inquiry wall or poster. Here, you and the students can add more questions and ideas they want to investigate.
Research & Discover
Once students have their questions, they can go off and do their research. The research could be done as homework, or by spending some class time on the research stage.
There are lots of things students can do to find the answers to their questions. They could look in books in the school library, visit reputable websites about animals and watch animal documentaries on YouTube or on TV. You could invite an expert such as someone from a local animal shelter to the class or even go on a field trip and explore the area where they live.
Organise & Present
When they have all their information, they plan how to present it and share what they have discovered with the class. If possible, allow students to choose. For example, students could:
- Give a poster presentation
- Perform a play
- Make a YouTube documentary
- Create mini-books for a class library
Reflect
In the reflection stage, students look back at their inquiry and think about what they have learned and how they learned it. Was their inquiry successful? Here are some questions you could have students answer as part of the reflection process.
- What did I know at the start? What didn’t I know?
- What do I know now?
- What do I need to know?
- How well did I do?
Final Thoughts
Inquiry-based learning is an active learning approach in which students have choice and voice. Students are motivated to learn because they are involved in the decision-making process and this encourages them to take responsibility for their learning. It’s collaborative and flexible, making the classroom a positive inclusive place where students really want to learn.
If you enjoyed this post you might also like: The importance of inclusive education and Gender equality and disability inclusion in the classroom