Analysing the Impact of Teachers’ Role and Inter-Departmental Collaboration on Effective Inquiry-Based Learning
The study focuses on highlighting effective ways to implement Inquiry-based Learning at a Primary school branch of the Beaconhouse School System. An overlap between the classroom observations done in the preliminary phase of the research and the literature indicated two themes. The first theme stems from the idea that teachers’ personal values and beliefs impact the role they think they should embody to foster their students’ process of inquiry. The second theme talks about Inter-departmental Collaboration as a way to develop a synchronous learning experience that helps students to effectively utilise various in-school resources during their research and exploratory phase. Seven Grade 4 teachers and sixty-five students across four sections were selected as the sample for this experimental study. The twofold intervention for the experimental group entailed an extensive Teacher Workshop and a set of Guidelines for the department personnel from the school to follow. For data collection, one-on-one interviews with the teachers, classroom observations, and a focus group with the students were conducted. The findings highlighted how the interplay of various nuances of teacher’s and students’ roles, interdepartmental collaboration, and the school system can foster a culture of inquiry. Challenges and recommendations for future research directions are also discussed.
