Inquiry education (sometimes known as the inquiry method) is a student-centered method of

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

focused on asking

question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are inte ...

s. Students are encouraged to ask questions which are meaningful to them, and which do not necessarily have easy answers; teachers are encouraged to avoid giving answers when this is possible, and in any case to avoid giving direct answers in favor of asking more questions. In this way it is similar in some respects to the

Socratic method The Socratic method (also known as method of Elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate) is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw ...

. The method was advocated by

Neil Postman Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 – October 5, 2003) was an American author, educator, media theorist and cultural critic, who eschewed digital technology, including personal computers, mobile devices, and cruise control in cars, and was critical of ...

and

Charles Weingartner Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

in their book ''Teaching as a Subversive Activity''.

Overview

The inquiry method is motivated by Postman and Weingartner's recognition that good learners and sound reasoners center their attention and activity on the dynamic process of inquiry itself, not merely on the end product of static knowledge. They write that certain characteristics are common to all good learners (Postman and Weingartner, pp. 31–33), saying that all good learners have: :* Self-confidence in their learning ability :* Pleasure in problem solving :* A keen sense of relevance :* Reliance on their own judgment over other people's or society's :* No fear of being wrong :* No haste in answering :* Flexibility in point of view :* Respect for facts, and the ability to distinguish between fact and opinion :* No need for final answers to all questions, and comfort in not knowing an answer to difficult questions rather than settling for a simplistic answer In an attempt to instill students with these qualities and behaviors, a teacher adhering to the inquiry method in

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

must behave very differently from a traditional teacher. Postman and Weingartner suggest that inquiry teachers have the following characteristics (pp. 34–37): :* They avoid telling students what they "ought to know". :* They talk to students mostly by questioning, and especially by asking

divergent questions {{no footnotes, date=December 2008 A divergent question is a question with no specific answer, but rather exercises one's ability to think broadly about a certain topic. In education Popular in inquiry education, divergent questions allow students ...

. :* They do not accept short, simple answers to questions. :* They encourage students to interact directly with one another, and avoid judging what is said in student interactions. :* They do not summarize students' discussion. :* They do not plan the exact direction of their lessons in advance, and allow it to develop in response to students' interests. :* Their lessons pose problems to students. :* They gauge their success by change in students' inquiry behaviors (with the above characteristics of "good learners" as a goal).

References

* Postman, Neil, and Weingartner, Charles (1969), ''Teaching as a Subversive Activity'',

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

, New York, NY.

Overview

References

Further reading