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Essay / IBL Review - 1743
Inquiry-based learning (hereinafter referred to as IBL) is an inquisitive approach to science teaching, which uses questioning as a key element, encourages the development of solving skills of problems through interactive involvement and aims to grant a deeper understanding of the concept to be taught through the use of the five Es. Inquiry-based learning is student-driven and can be used in a variety of ways, according to Boggess (http://assessment.tamu.edu/seminars/110807_Boggess.pdf); examples include group work, discussion, writing, web use, activities inside and outside the classroom, engagement, and diversity. Although inclusion is not explicit in the IBL strategy, the fact that IBL is inquiry-based assumes that the class learns together, benefiting from each other's questions – in other words, that it is consistent with the fundamental idea of group work. Using IBL strategies, my partner and I created a wiki that aimed to teach level 3 aspects of river ecosystems. This review will discuss each of the examples mentioned above and demonstrate how, when and why they were used in the IBL strategy. Teachers use IBL to encourage students to develop their research skills and external connections with other students in the class, using each of them. the student's prior knowledge to enrich that of others. The benefits particularly apply to science, where each student's prior knowledge often varies widely and where the interconnectedness of science with other subjects leaves ample opportunities for integration and research. Science skills facilitated by IBL include "asking questions, planning, conducting and critiquing investigations, collecting, analyzing and interpreting evidence......in the middle of a paper......discussions were a very effective tool throughout the wiki that makes students more interested and the learning environment more supportive and diverse. Additionally, the increased freedom in the final assessment task facilitated diversity within the experiment; however, it can certainly be argued that more freedom could have been given to students, resulting in more diversity, while remaining within acceptable guidelines of experimental safety. In conclusion, although many aspects of the wiki could be improved, overall as a teaching and learning sequence using inquiry-based learning, it is adequate to teach Step 3 on river ecosystems. If I were given a similar task again, my goal would be to increase the interactivity of ICT integration and provide more extension activities to meet the needs of each student while encouraging diversity..