Inquiry Training Model

            Inquiry training was developed by Richard Suchman. The model fosters the art of independent inquiry in a disciplined way. The aim of inquiry training is to help students develop the intellectual disciplines and skills necessary to raise questions and search out answers stemming from curiosity.

The inquiry training model is based on the following assumptions

• All knowledge is tentative
• People inquire naturally when they are puzzled
• Students can become conscious of and learn to analyse their thinking strategies
• New strategies can be taught directly and added to the student's existing ones
• Cooperative inquiry enriches thinking and helps students learn about the tentative nature of emergent knowledge and appreciate alternative explanations.
• Team approach is better than individual approach to find solutions to a problem
• Curiosity is the basic instinct possess by every human.

The main learning outcomes of ITM are the process skills like observing, collecting and organizing data, identifying and controlling variables, making and testing hypotheses, formulating explanations and drawing inferences. The splendid integration of these process skills results in meaningful and fruitful experience.

ITM has five phases. 

• The first phase is confrontation of puzzling situation with students. 
• The second and third phase are data gathering operations of verification and experimentation. 
• In the fourth phase students process the information gained in the data gathering phases and tries to explain the discrepancy event. 
• In the last and fifth phase students analyze the problem solving strategies they used during the inquiry process.

DESCRIPTION OF INQUIRY TRAINING MODEL

SYNTAX:

PHASE 1 : ORIENTATION OF THE INQUIRY PROCEDURE AND ENCOUNTER WITH THE PROBLEM

i. Teacher presents the discrepant event.

ii. Teacher explains the inquiry procedures

a) Students are allowed to gather data through questions.

b) Each question must be asked as a tentative hypothesis.

c) The questions have to be worded so that they have only YES or NO answer.

d) Avoid answering the questions with other than YES or NO

e) Permit students to ask as many questions to ensure, they are in the right track.

f) Ask the pupils to rephrase the invalid questions.

PHASE 2 :DATA GATHERING –VERIFICATION

i. Learners gather information about the event/problem to verify the nature of objects and conditions.

ii. Leaners confirm the occurance of the problem situation. The data should be recorded on the board or on data sheets kept by each student.

PHASE 3 : DATA GATHERING‐ EXPERIMENTATION

i. Isolate relevant variables.

Students introduce new elements into the situation to see if the event happens differently, that is changing things to see what happens.

ii. Students hypotheses a solution to the problem.

Students may caucus to discuss the information and nature of the problem and frame hypothetical questions to the instructor. Depending on the nature of the problem, the students could be directed to other sources of information, activities or to actual experimentation in the laboratory. They can also use a series of questions to the teacher to test the hypothesis.

iii. Hypothesis are confirmed or revised.

a) If the theory seems verified , the class accepts that hypothesis as a solution and moves to the next step.

b) If the hypothesis is not accepted and rejected by the class, then the phase is redirected to general data gathering. Other possible hypothesis may be formulated and tested until a hypothesis has been accepted by the class.

PHASE 4 : FORMULATION OF AN EXPLANATION

In this phase the students formulates explanation on the basis of data gathered in phase 2 and 3.

Learners formulates rules or explanations as solutions to the discrepant event through simple linear causation, theory of properties, properties, analogy etc.

PHASE 5 : ANALYSIS OF INQUIRY PROCESS

In this phase the students analyse their pattern of thinking. They identify the questions that are useful in analyzing data and those that are irrelevant. Detailed review of the process of acceptance of hypothesis. Discuss the factors influenced the inquiry effectively and adversely.

SOCIAL SYSTEM

In the preparatory phase while presenting the puzzle the teacher has a dominant role. However the rest of the phases, the norms of inquiry are those of co‐operation, intellectual freedom and equality. An open classroom climate where students learn the principles of inquiry, the teacher guides them to use resource materials, perform experiments and promotes meaningful discussions.

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION

• Ensure that the questions are phrased in such a way so as to elicit YeslNo response
• Ask pupils to be specific with their questions
• Direct pupils' inquiry towards object, event condition and proper questions
• Invite experimentation questions
• Ask the pupils to rephrase the invalid questions
• Encourage interaction among the pupils
• Record systematically on the chalk board, the questions of pupils and the teachers' response
• Provide a free intellectual environment without evaluating pupils' questions
• Review the questions and responses to help the student to keep track of the process.

SUPPORT SYSTEM

• Discrepant events/ Confronting materials
• Verbal expressiveness
• Teacher’s intellectual knowledge of the inquiry strategies
• Resource materials needed for the problem

INSTRUCTIONAL EFFECTS AND NURTURANT EFFECTS :

Instructional Effects :

• Scientific process skills
• Strategies for creative inquiry

Nurturant Effects :

• Spirit of creativity
• Autonomy in learning
• Tolerance of ambiguity
• Tentative nature of knowledge