“Why does the sun come out so early in summer?”
“Can dogs talk?”
“Why do flowers have different colours?”
The questions are endless. If you’ve taught primary grade, or have young children, you would know that you can never be prepared enough.
The questions can stump you and running to save face, as you look up the answer.
But this is a good sign, the children asking questions (not you looking lost!).
It shows that their brains are working full time, trying to understand the world around them.
But then this curiosity starts diminishing gradually. It’s ironic but as they go up in grades, they have lesser curiosity.
These questions dry up as they get caught up between worksheets, test preparations, and “learning outcomes”. It’s not because the kids are losing their sense of wonder; it’s because the system doesn’t value or nurture it.
That’s why inquiry-based learning has to be integrated into the educational system. It’s not going to provide fix-all solutions. But it’ll provide the conditions for curiosity to thrive.
Remember, questions are as important as answers. Maybe even more so.
What Is Inquiry-Based Learning, Really?
Inquiry-based learning begins with asking a question, not opening the textbooks.
Inquiry-based learning, or IBL in short, encourages the child to think, investigate, explore, wonder, and follow their curiosity (something like the Bloom’s taxonomy), instead of asking them to blindly memorise the content without comprehension.
The focus in on how to think and not what do you think.
There are 3 ways of using this approach.
- Structured Inquiry: The teacher poses a question, and students explore it through a guided process.
- Guided Inquiry: The teacher frames the topic, but students decide how to go about investigating it.
- Open Inquiry: Students ask their own questions and figure out how to explore them, often with minimal guidance.
It can be customised and made suitable as per the age group of the students, the topic being discussed or even the learning objective.
The underlying spirit remains constant, about practising curiosity.
Curiosity and Critical Thinking Go Hand in Hand
Call it it’s superpower or USP, but the highlight of IBL is that it fuels curiosity and critical thinking simultaneously.
We were learning about plants in the class one day. Instead of learning from the textbook, I took the students for a walk around the school grounds.
Once back in the classroom, I asked my 7-year olds what they had learnt or seen.
The feedback was amazing; and the observations and questions were mind boggling.
“Why were some of the leaves not green? How will they make food then?”
“Why are there no flowers on all the plants?”
“Who decides the colour of the leaves?”
Suddenly the kids weren’t just learning about plants, but instead thinking like biologist and botanists.
This first-hand experience with the use of IBL changed learning in the class, for both the students and for me.
It’s sparked open-ended thinking. It fuelled curiosity and imagination, unshackled learnings from restricted textbook.
It freed the mind to think by itself.
Inquiry Teaches Problem Solving, Flexibility And Analysis
Inquiry-based learning is often seen as feel-good, free-spirited exploration.
But it goes beyond that.
It helps develop life skills like problem solving, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility.
When you allow children to think, you’re providing them an opportunity to –
- Form hypotheses (“Maybe if I do this, then this might happen.”)
- Test assumptions (“What if I try it the other way instead?”)
- Analyse results (“Why didn’t that work?”)
- Revise approaches (“Let me try something else.”)
These are skills they’ll need as adults, and they’ll be prepared for it from now.
Children learn that there’s more than one way to think through a problem.
Whether it’s planning a group project or preparing for an exam or saving money for something they want to buy.
The process of finding the right answer becomes their teacher.
Inquiry Builds Resilience and Adaptability
Often the focus is on getting the right answer quickly. And the expected answer, that too.
This inhibits their desire to look around. Because not knowing the correct answer is seen as failure.
But not knowing is not failure. Inquiry-based learning challenges this mindset, that there’s only one right answer.
It encourages children to explore and look for the answer through trial and error. It becomes a part of learning.
It’s only then that children learn to be comfortable with uncertainty. One wrong answer is no longer the end; it’s just one step closer to getting it right.
Learning to adapt to the uncertainty helps children to develop a resilient mindset.
In a world where adults are navigating AI, climate change, and global shifts, their ability to ask and adapt is more powerful than rote recall.
It’ll be helpful in adjusting to the constantly changing world around them as they grow.
The Real-World Payoff: Curious Kids Become Lifelong Learners
It’s their curiosity that let the scientists, explorers, artists, and entrepreneurs, and many more to push the limits and seek answers.
It fuelled their hunger to explore, investigate, figure out the solution for what was irking them.
Every innovation, every discovery, every creation began with a question.
“What if we could fly?”
“Why can’t I talk to someone on the other side of the world instantly?”
“How do we feed more people with fewer resources?”
The what if, why, where, become the guiding light for new answers.
When you create an environment where children feel encouraged to ask questions, and not get intimidated by complex one, they become open to learning which goes beyond their textbooks and into the real world.
They prepare for not just their exams but for life.
How Parents and Educators Can Encourage Inquiry
This is simple 4 step process to support enquiry based learning.
- Ask open-ended questions: Replace “Did you finish your homework?” with “What part of your homework made you think?”
- Encourage curiosity at home: If your child asks, “Why do I have to eat my greens every day?”, turn the question around to – “What do you think they do for you?”
- Use real-world scenarios: “How can we reduce plastic at home?” or “Why are there floods when it rains heavily?” Turn everyday conversations into discovery zones.
- Celebrate the process, not just the result: Support your child’s attempts to arrive at a conclusion, recognise their effort to think, explore, and try.
Can Too Much Inquiry Backfire?
Often the cynics would point out that too much openness can leave the children feeling confused, or find themselves dealing with thoughts beyond their comprehension.
Even some educators and parents wonder if inquiry-based leaning can be too structured?
Maybe. It’s a valid concern. Inquiry-based learning is not a free-for-all. It’s not about throwing out the structure completely.
Instead inquiry-based learning needs the structure to be built around the child’s curiosity. The basic skills like phonics, numbers, grammar, act like the building blocks.
Inquiry-based learning uses these to build the foundation on which their knowledge base is built.
When the Mangalyaan was launched in 2022, I had begun with a news time in class, asking them questions or informing them about the latest updates. Even after that event, we continued with that practice and students were encouraged to get one news item which they could tell the class.
Unknowingly it got the children interested in the world around them, even if it was mostly restricted to cricket and badminton.
The key is in the balance. Children need the balance and guidance to develop. And that must be complemented with exploration and curiosity.
Only then do they own their learning.
In Conclusion: Raise Questioners, Not Fact-Collectors
You want your child to learn, become knowledgeable and self-sufficient. And not turn up to be some robot full of facts.
With the entry of AI, getting answers isn’t the problem. What’s needed is people who can think deeply.
Inquiry-based learning will assist you to prepare your child for such a future.
They learn to think unrestricted, question boldly, and learn continuously.
Isn’t that the purpose of education?
So, the next time your child asks you a question, see how you can channelise that curiosity into a learning process.
Because that, right there, is where magic begins.
