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Benefits of Using Inquiry and Theme-Based Courses

Learning to Learn

Another role that Ballenger sees for the instructor is that of teaching students how to learn and function in this type of atmosphere. He outlines five points for creating a “culture of inquirers” (xxxiv). (Italics are my summary of the main points.)

• Create an atmosphere of mutual inquiry. This is where the instructor identifies himself as a fellow learner in the inquiry.
• Emphasize questions before answers. Encourage students to avoid preconceived notions that could taint the discovery part of the inquiry.
• Encourage a willingness to suspend judgment. Students should trust the inquiry process and avoid falling in to the old way of student as passive receptor.
• Introduce a strategy of inquiry. Guide students through the process by showing them inquiry strategies.
• Present inquiry in a rhetorical context. Discuss the importance of research and writing for a particular purpose and audience.

Improved Literacy

Although inquiry-based learning begins with the individual, it eventually leads to seeking answers from external sources. One of the ten tenets of psycholinguistic reading theory states that the reader needs to have a purpose for reading or “the activity is bound to be meaningless” (Wood 35). On the other hand, “predicting and questioning,” key components of inquiry-based learning, were cited as “critical to comprehension” (Wood 35). As students improve their ability to ask critical questions and set forth to find answers to these questions, there is relevancy to reading the selected materials. This is crucial for many students in the basic writing classroom who may be engaging academic texts for the first time.

Additional Support for Inquiry in Theme-Based Classes

• Expands the topic as students move in a variety of directions.
• Diversifies class discussion as a mixture of different perspectives are presented.
• Learning how to ask good questions leads to asking bigger and/or related questions for further inquiry.
• Reduces boredom in the writing classroom as topics take different shapes.
• Open-ended questions allow students to explore the topic without feeling that there is one right answer with which the instructor may not agree.
• “Inquiry oriented classrooms [are] more animated and engaged… and [students] have more fun and produce deeper understandings” (Wilhelm 5).
• “Classrooms become more lively for teachers and students alike when students are given the power to explore texts and construct meaning on their own” (Wood 41).