UNIT III LESSON 5: INQUIRY-BASED TEACHING STRATEGY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain the relevance of inquiry in social studies education;

• Appreciate the art of questioning inside a social studies classroom; and
• Scrutinize a lesson plan using an inquiry-based teaching strategy.
LESSON OVERVIEW
One of the major goals of social studies in the Philippines is the development of critical
thinking. Having this in 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 questions in class, he noticed that his learners became
more attentive than ever. Since then, he used “question and answer” as a strategy to ensure that his
learners are 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
techniques. To do so, teachers must know how to make and throw relevant questions to facilitate
discussions. In this lesson, you will learn the art of questioning by discussing its types and usages.
LESSON CONTENT
Inquiry is defined as the process of looking and creating information or knowledge by means
of questions. 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, & Tiwan, 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 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 students’ metacognitive knowledge and skills following the process of:
a. Scaffold Inquiry. Teachers should guide the learners in attaining 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 assess both sides of any situation that will lead to a generalization.
c. Generalization. This is the optimum part of the process wherein 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 teaching 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.

https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2013/10/the-inquiry-process.gif

In this model, the roles of teachers as facilitators are highlighted. It is their responsibility to let
the learners identify 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, teachers are assured of the success of their inquiry. Gershon (2014) identified 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 issue? 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 arguments relevant to the question/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 questions 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 your learners. If there is a naughty pupil, will
you spank him1her? 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 learners the chance to evaluate themselves.
d. Socratic questioning. This questioning 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:
• Gadfly questions. These allow teachers to ask several questions to push the learners
to answer questions.
✓ What are the elections all 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?
• Stingray 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?
• Midwife questions. From the name itself, these questions are used to elicit new ideas
from the learners.
✓ That is a very good point. Can you elaborate on it further?
✓ How might that idea change the lives of Filipinos?
✓ What made you say that idea?
• Ignoramus questions. Here, teachers play dumb to elicit responses from 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 social studies education in the Philippines.
TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITY
Study the sample Daily Lesson PIan below and analyze how the Jigsaw strategy is utilized in the
elementary social studies classroom.

Grade Level 1
Learning Area Araling Panlipunan
Quarter Una

I. Objectives
Content Standard Naipamamalas ang pag-unawa sa kahalagahan ng kinabibilangang
komunidad.

Performance Standard Malikhaing nakapagpapahayag/nakapagsasalarawan ng

kahalagahan ng kinabibilangang komunidad,
Learning Competencies/ Nauunawaan ang konsepto ng "komunidad"
Objectives • Nasasabi ang payak na kahulugan ng "komunidad"
• Nasasabi--ang mga ha-limbawa ng "komunidad"
II. Content Pagkilala sa Komunidad
III. Learning Resources
References Araling Ponlipunan 2 Learner's Module pp ___
Araling Panlipunan 2 Teacher's Guide pp ___

Other Learning Resources Mga larawang tungkol sa komunidad

Video clip tungkol sa Pilipinas
Chalk
IV. Procedure I. Pagganyak (5 minuto)
1. Gaqamitin ng guro ang video clip upang makuha ang
atensyon ng mga bata. Bago Ito ipapanood, sasabihin muna
Before the Lesson ng guro ang mga sumusunod na tanong:
a. Ano ang napanood ninyo sa video clip?
b. Nakikita ba ninyo ang mga ito sa inyong komunidad?
c. Anu-ono kaya ang mga ginagampanan ng mga ito sa
ating buhay?
II. Poglalahad ng mga Paksa at mga Layunin (2 minuto)
Pagkatapos ng Pagproseso ng mga sagot, ilalahad ng guro ang
pokso at ang mga layunin nito.
During the Lesson III. Pagtalakay (3 minuto)
Ang mga larawang naihanda ay gagamitin sa isang interaktibong
talakayan gamit ang ibat ibang uring mga katanungang dapat
sagutin ng mga mag.-aaral.
IV. Gawain: Inquiry-based Learning (Maaaring bigyan ng sariling
pangalan: e.g., Q&A)
1. Unang Larawan:
 Mga tanong:
a. Anu-ano ang rnga nakikita ninyo sa larawan?
b. Magbigay ng isa at ipaliwanag kung ano ang
ginagampanan nito sa ating komunidad.
c. Ano kayo ang mangyayari kung nawala ang mga ito ?
d. Paano natin mabibigyan ng halaga ang mga ito?

2. Pangalawang Larawan:

Source: https://ti.goodsalt.com/detaiIs/rbjas0005.htmI

Mga tanong:
a. Ano ang nasa larawan?
b. Paano ito masosolusyonan?
c. Ano ang dapat gawin ng mga mamamayang tulad ninyo
upang hindi humantong sa ganito 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 sa susunod na
pagkikita.)

ASSESSMENT TASK
1. What is/are being enhanced among the learners when teachers use the inquiry-based teaching
strategy?
2. What tips can you give to teachers in crafting good questions?
3. As a future social studies teacher, would you use questions to elicit ideas from learners? Why?