With Inquiry, Now Everyone Can Solve Problems With E's!

What is Inquiry?

Inquiry is a 5 phase instructional cycle that forces students to use a "hands on-minds on" approach to learning. The instructional cycle is based off of the 5 e's.

The 5 E's are:
1. Engage
2. Explore
3. Explain
4. Elaborate
5. Evaluate

In the Engage stage, students' prior knowledge is activated. This is also where they make connection to things they have learned in the past and to experiences they have had in the past with the topic at hand. Having them make those past connections will allow them to make newer, deeper connections to the material throughout the process of inquiry. The goal of this stage is to spark their interest in the topic at hand.

In the Explore stage, students hands and minds are put to the test. This is where they begin to literally explore ideas and take part in tactile, "hands on-minds on" experiences. The idea behind this is to generate many hypotheses focusing on the topic at hand. This is where learners begin to share and compare their ideas, comments and questions.

In the Explain stage, this is where students finalize their questions and ideas and focus on analyzing the data and ideas that they have collected. The students may share their findings and contribute to someone else's ideas. This may make ideas seem more real to some students.

In the Elaborate stage, students will use the information and learning they have gained in the previous stages to make inferences and deductions about the topic at hand. Students also could begin to make connections to the material at hand in this stage because this is where they will begin to compare real life situations to the hypotheses they have made.

Last is the Evaluate stage. What is great about this stage is that this stage is built into the other 4 stages. This is basically the check for understanding. Ways this could be administered are through rubrics, checklists, interviews, or any other type of formative assessment. This is also the stage where another cycle can be started if the student is really interested in the topic at hand.

As a teacher, I do like the inquiry process because it provides my future students with the "hands on-minds on" experience that I really want to stress to them. I love that it provides ways for me to assess them at any point in time. I also love that it provides more than ample time for the students to work together and share the ideas that they are coming up with. I can't wait to bring inquiry and the 5e's into my future classroom.