INQUIRY-BASED TEACHING STRATEGY
Objectives:
Explain the relevance of inquiry in social studies education
Appreciate the art of questioning inside a social studies classroom
Create a lesson plan using inquiry-based teaching strategy
INTRODUCTION
One of the major goals of social studies in the Philippines is the development of critical thinking. Having
this is mind, Teacher Kevin reflected if he has been able to develop this skill among his learners. He thought
that to develop critical thinking, his learners must be able to use their analytical and problem-solving skills.
Hence, the solution to his problem is the use of questions inside the classroom. Upon implementing essential
question in class, he noticed that his learners became more attentive.
The question or inquiry is a strategy that social studies teachers can use to elicit the desired responses
among the learners. However, not all teachers can effectively facilitate such instructional technique. To do so,
teachers must know how to make and throw relevant question to facilitate discussion. In this lesson, you will
learn the art of questioning by discussing its types and usage.
THINK
Inquiry is defined as the process of looking and creating information or knowledge by means of
question. Inquiry is a huge part of our community. From birth to adulthood, we observe, recognize things or
events and from here, we create questions that need to be answered. The process of inquiring begins with the
assembly of information and data by applying the human senses such as seeing, hearing, touching, tasting,
and smelling (Kumari, Arora, & Tiwari, Shruti, 2016). In the field of social studies education, the importance of
inquiry has been overlooked by many. Teachers tend to use differentiated instruction that sometimes is not
relevant to the competencies by being harnessed. Moreover, once adopted as a strategy, teachers sometimes
strictly rely on the procedures steps leaving the idea of the art of questioning at stake.
In 1999, White, Shimoda and Frederiksen developed an instructional theory that enabled scientific
inquiry as part of instruction among a widespread variety of learners, including new ones and slow learners.
They postulated that quality education could be achieved by allowing the learners to understand
metacognition. This could be done by constructing an instructional methodology that develops the student’s
metacognitive knowledge and skills following the process of:
a. Scaffold Inquiry. Teachers should guide the learners in attainting the goals of any discussion.
Hence, they must be aware of several techniques that could allow them to surface the learners’
knowledge and skills.
b. Reflection. The spontaneity of the discussion depends on the capacity of the teachers to direct
and guide the learners. The most important point is for learners to reason out their mind and try
to asses both sides of any situation that will lead to generalization.
c. Generalization. This is the optimum part of the process where in the learners have created
their own beliefs and communicated their disposition. Take note that in social studies, teachers
must know how to divert and process misleading ideas because it may break their motivation
and self-esteem.
Inquiry-based learning is grounded on rational strategies used to motivate learners to generate responses
through the queries regarding issues/events. The learners are seen as active participants in the teaching
process. It helps learners to enhance their intellectual capacity through the significance of scientific queries.
Some of the benefits of inquiry-based teachings are as follows.
1. Inquiry is dedicated to nurturing the schema of learners essential to create, communicate, and assess
answers coming from their interests.
2. It helps the learners acquire and process ideas in a logical way.
3. It encourages intelligent responses which can be practiced to discover why issues are occurring.
To fully understand the strategy, here is the inquiry process.
The Inquiry Process
Source: [Link]
In this model, the roles of teachers as facilitators are highlighted. It is their responsibility to let the
learner’s identity the problem situation, judge the inquiry events, and reply to learners’ inquiry to augment
learning. It supports the learners in establishing the importance of their inquiry. It also simplifies the
conversation of the problematic situation among the learners because the responses are generated by them.
Hence, they will be able to find connections starting from the questions about the topic being discussed.
Questioning Techniques
The art of questioning is the most important aspect in this strategy. The teachers must be well-exposed
to various ways of posting questions to students. Having known the different questioning techniques that social
studies teachers can use:
a. Might question. What might history be? What might be the answer to that social issues? This question
does not limit the possible responses among the learners. But rather, it opens up a range of possible
responses that allows learners to reason out. Their answers may not be correct but their explanation
might put all things right. Including the word might signals the learners that they need to use critical
thinking to create argument/s.
b. What if question- What if there is an earthquake; what shall we do? What if you became the mayor;
what programs shall you implement? These kinds of question bring out the creativity, speculation, and
rationality among the learners. It allows the learners to think in a totally different perspective that is
usually grounded on what they believe in. it could be a great way to assess the learners formatively
because it allows them to answer based from the learnings they had.
c. Different roles question- You are the judge; will you give your verdict in favor of the suspect? You are
a teacher and you are expected to guide the learners, if there is a naughty pupil, will you spank
him/her? This type of question allows the learners to have a glimpse of possible roles they might
portray in the real world. This strategy is a nice representation of the outside world and gives the
outside world and gives the learners the chance to evaluate themselves.
d. Socratic questioning- This question style combines all the aforementioned form of questioning.
Socrates has been known in history as the master of incessant questioning to achieve wisdom.
Throughout his life, he spent so much time asking people questions for the purpose of revealing
falsehoods. Scholars divided Socrates' questions into four types:
o Gadfly questions- these allow teacher to ask several questions to push the learners to answers
questions.
What are the elections about?
How important is it for people to participate in the elections?
What if people were not allowed to vote? What will happen?
When you reach the legal age, will you practice your right to vote?
o Stringray questions-These questions lead to a sudden change in the course of questions.
Sometimes, this is associated to the drift in the situation.
You said that love is the answer; will love change the situation of the poor?
Imagine that poverty is not applicable to your case; would you still pursue your career as
an artist?
o Midwife questions- From the name itself, these questions are used to elicit new ideas to the
learners.
That is a very good point. Can you elaborate it further?
How might that idea change the lives of Filipinos?
What made you say that idea?
o Ignoramus questions- In here, teachers play dumb for them to elicit responses among the
learners.
I don't understand. Can you further explain it to me? So, do you mean that...? What
does your answer mean?
By learning to address inquiries, learners can appreciate problem-solving and critical thinking. Hence,
there is a need for social studies teachers to learn how to properly use questioning skills to fully attain the
goals of socials studies education in the Philippines.
EXPERIENCE
Study the sample Daily Lesson Plan below and analyze how the Jigsaw strategy is utilized in the
elementary social studies classroom.
Grade Level 2
Learning Area AralingPanlipunan
Quarter Una
I. Objectives
Content Standard Naipamamalasangpag-
unawasakahalagahanngkinabibilangangkomunidad.
Performance Standard Malikhaingnakapagpapahayag/
nakapagsasalarawanngkahalagahanngkinabibilangangkom
unidad.
Learning III. Nauunawaanangkonseptong “komunidad”
Competencies/Objectives I.1 Nasasabiangpayaknakahuluganng
“komunidad”
I.2 Nasasabiangmgahalimbawang “komunidad”
II. Content Standard PagkilalasaKomunidad
III. Learning Resources
References AralingPanlipunan 2 Learner’s Module
AralingPanlipunan 2 Teacher’s Guide
IV. Procedures
Before the Lesson I. Pagganyak (5 minuto)
1. Gagamitinngguroang video clip upang makuha ang
atensyon ng mga bata. Bago ito ipapanood, sasabihin
muna ng guro ang mga sumusunod na tanong:
a. Anoangnapanoodninyosa video clip?
b. Nakikitabaninyoangmgaitosainyongkomunidad?
c. Anu-ano kaya ang mga ginagampanan ng mga
ito sa ating buhay?
II. Paglalahad ng mga Paksa at mga layunin (2 minuto).
Pagkatapos ng pagproseso ng mga sagot, ilalahad ng guro
ang paksa at mga layunin nito.
During the Lesson I. Pagtatalakay (3 minuto)
Ang mga larawang naihanda ay gagamitin sa isang
interaktibong talakayan gamit ang iba’t ibang uri ng mga
katanugang dapat sagutin ng mga mag- aaral.
II. Gawain: Inquiry-based Learning (Maaring bigyan ng
sariling pangalan: e.g., Q&A)
a. UnangLarawan:
Mgatanong:
b. Anu-ano ang mga nakikita ninyo sa larawan? Magbigay
ng isa at ipaliwanag kung ano ang ginagampanan nito
sa komunidad.
c. Ano kaya ang mangyayari kung nawala ang mga ito?
d. Paano natin mabibigayan ng halaga ang mga ito?
2. PangalawangLarawan:
Mgatanong:
a. Ano ang nasa larawan?
b. Paano ito nasosolusyonan?
c. Ano ang dapat gawin ng mga mamamayang tulad
ninyo upang hindi humantong saganito ang ating
komunidad?
After the Lesson I. Pagbubuod (5 minuto)
Gagamitin ng guro ang mga sagot ng mga bata sa
pagbubuod ng talakayan.
(Ipagpapatuloy at mas palalalimin ang aralin sasusunod na
pagkikita.)
