Inquiry-based learning involves the students in asking questions, gathering information and ideas, examining relevant issues (big ideas), and making systematic attempts to answer the questions they have identified. The questions and possible answers may lead into possible actions.
For example, the students could explore the key concept of mediation by generating focus questions based on the different portrayals of young people that are presented through various media.
These focus questions and possible answers could flow on to actions such as producing a presentation (for example, a podcast) that highlights the bias that the media can have towards or against young people, with reference to New Zealand contexts.
Read more about the social inquiry approach:
Building Conceptual Understandings in the Social Sciences (BCUSS) book Approaches to Social Inquiry (Ministry of Education, 2008). A PDF file is available on the Social Sciences Online homepage.
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Last updated September 14, 2011