Enquiry based learning

The University of Birmingham, in their publication Enquiry-based learning definition, characteristics, fundamentals and approaches (2010), states that, in order to be enquiry based, the fundamental nature of questions must be relevant to learners, open ended in outcome and necessitate that the learner build on their previous learning:

“Curiosity can be aroused through structuring tasks around real life issues that have relevance to the students”

“The task presented to the learner is structured to be sufficiently open-ended to enable a variety of responses or solutions”

“The enquiry requires students to draw on existing knowledge and to identify their required leaning needs” (University of Birmingham, 2010, p. 3)

In an art context, the research and enquiry process that stems from such questions has been defined by McNiff (2009) as “the systematic use of the artistic process, the actual making of artistic expressions in all of the different forms of the arts, as a primary way of understanding and examining experience” (p. 29). It is through the course of this process that new knowledge and understanding is developed and valuable insights are gained. This may be at an individual or more generic level depending on the nature and purpose of the question and process. However, the value of these new understandings and insights can be very significant, as McNiff (2007) explains:

“Most of us find it very difficult to let go of our habitual ways of viewing the world, and it is more than likely that we manifest the same tendencies in our dealings with others. Change and insight in the personal realm are increasingly being recognized as a key source of corresponding social change” (p. 37).

This transference of understanding from that learned through the enquiry process to the wider areas of life is particularly facilitated through arts based activities. This is highlighted by Efland, 2002, where he states that the arts “provide encounters that foster the capacity to construct interpretations. The need to interpret is necessary in life, since reliable knowledge is often unavailable or filled with ambiguous and conflicting data. The interpretation of works of art not only enables one to construct understandings about them but enables individuals to interpret other situations where life’s circumstances are uncertain or unclear” (p. 161).

REFERENCES:

Efland, A. D., 2002. Art and Cognition. New York: Teachers College Press

McNiff, S., 2007. Arts Based Research. In Knowles, G. And Cole, A. L., eds., 2008. Handbook of the arts in qualitative research. Ch 3. [online] Available at: < http://www.moz.ac.at/files/pdf/fofoe/ff_abr.pdf > [Accessed 10th March 2012].

University of Birmingham, 2010. Enquiry-based learning definition, characteristics, fundamentals and approaches. [online] Available at: < http://www.ebl.bham.ac.uk/info/EBL_characteristics_fundamentals_approaches.pdf > Accessed 14th March 2012.