Challenges Facing Inquiry Based Instruction

Initially, teachers who are not comfortable with the structure of inquiry- based instruction tend to feel that their is no structure at all, which results in an untrained teacher who views inquiry approaches as unproductive. The largest challenge associated with inquiry is successfully training and altering the perception that teachers have on their instruction. This is a major concern as students who initiate in inquiry are those who find school more interesting and meaningful.

One of the consequences of a teacher who is not practicing inquiry approaches in their classroom is that students are not easily adaptable to the demanding activities associated with Project Based Learning (PBL) activities, which is a form of instruction incorporating inquiry. This unfortunate consequence is also true in the case of a teacher who is not sufficiently implementing inquiry- based instruction in the classroom.

Because these practices help students create meaningful, self- driven questions that requires them to collaborate as a group of individuals solving a real life problem or scenario, the teacher's role is even more important. Teachers must be able to provide students with technology that is current with the dilemmas of everyday life in order to coach their students during these activities (Why use old technology to solve a current problem when new, improved technology can provide more insight??). This is true for more than just technology. This presents teachers with the challenge of stepping out of their comfort zone.

In addition, teachers are faced with the careful planning, development of collaboration, and assessment techniques involved with inquiry- based instruction.This all takes time. I believe that many teachers, which I wish not to disclose, fear that the time associated with this teaching method will take away from the time they need to provide content to their students. To me, this shows the need for training and practice so that teachers can make the transition, first outside of their classrooms, to providing the desired types of content with this meaningful learning style of teaching.