Using Inquiry-Based Learning Approaches to Teach Undergraduate Geography

Introduction

This chapter discusses the use of inquiry-based learning in teaching geography to undergraduate students. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) has been described as a ‘signature pedagogy’ (Shulman, 2005) in geography, due to this approach being used for many years in field teaching (Spronken-Smith, 2013). The IBL approach encompasses a range of active teaching methods where the learning is stimulated by a question or problem, and learning is based on a process of constructing new knowledge and understanding. The teacher is a facilitator of learning, akin to a guide on the side, rather than a sage on the stage, and the aim is to foster self-directed learning in students. Levy and Petrulis (2012) proposed that IBL could be either ‘information-oriented’, where the students explore existing disciplinary knowledge, or ‘discovery-oriented’, where students build disciplinary knowledge. In a further classification, Spronken-Smith and Walker (2010, p.727) drew on the work of Staver and Bay (1987) to make distinctions between modes of IBL depending on the amount of scaffolding:

• •

  Structured inquiry: where teachers provide an issue or problem and an outline for addressing it

• •

  Guided inquiry: where teachers provide questions to stimulate inquiry, but students are self-directed in terms of exploring these questions

• •

  Open inquiry: where students formulate the questions themselves as well as going through the full inquiry cycle.

Spronken-Smith and Walker (2010) noted that IBL is an umbrella term, which includes problem-based learning (PBL), and the terms are often used interchangeably. Problem-based learning is particularly prevalent in medical education contexts and is often used as an active learning approach to help develop clinical reasoning skills. The term IBL is often used alongside ‘undergraduate research’, as students learning by either approach develop inquiry and research skills. Undergraduate research can be similar to open inquiry, with students undertaking original research, providing students have autonomy in decisions about the research process.

The decision over which type and mode of IBL to use will depend on the intended learning outcomes of the course. For example, if teachers want students to learn a particular body of knowledge on say, migration patterns in a country, or causes of air pollution in a local environment, they would likely adopt either structured or guided information-oriented IBL. They would choose questions that provoke the exploration of existing bodies of knowledge. Students might work individually or in groups to explore that body of knowledge to answer the questions. The teacher likely knows the answer, but the knowledge will be new to the students. Such an approach promotes active learning, especially when students work with peers to find and discuss resource and reference material.

If however, the teacher wants the students to develop higher level learning outcomes such as reflecting, creating, evaluating, applying and analysing, and if they are not requiring the students to learn a certain body of knowledge, they should use open, discovery-oriented IBL. This would mean the students have to develop a question to research, and complete an inquiry cycle (Justice et al., 2002, p.19), involving determining what needs to be known, identifying resources and gathering data, assessing data, synthesising, communicating new understandings, and evaluating success. Central to the cycle is the requirement for self-reflection and self-evaluation. Although students can do individual inquiry projects (and indeed graduate theses involve this), it is often beneficial at undergraduate level to get students to work in groups, so they can benefit from peer learning (e.g., Boud & Cohen, 2013).