Enquiry Based Learning for Creative Early Childhood Education

Rationale

It plays a crucial role in early childhood as it focuses on the role of students in the overall learning process. It engages students to develop their learning skills and gives them an opportunity to build a strong relationships with their classmates. The purpose of this investigation is to analyse the development of learning skills in children which is based on cognitive theory of learning. This study is carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of enquiry-based learning in terms of children's learning. Almost every educator has struggled with the challenge of keeping the children engaged in learning material. Enquiry-based learning thus helps the child to get engaged in class and to interact with other children which eventually will help to enhance communication as well as free flow of play which involves the children moving freely indoors as well as outdoor premises. There are many practices available for educators to conduct inquiry-based learning, practices such as free-flow play and children's peer interactions are considered to be the most effective practices as they will result in improving and enhancing healthy relationships between classmates and help children develop their communication skills. Thus, it will help to develop enquiry-based learning as they get to know about the ways to interact with other individuals. It helps to develop a student's voice and to build confidence as they speak out their own ideas and enhance their abilities to contribute in the classroom. Inquiry-based learning makes students active in the classroom rather than sitting in a corner and listening to educators (Leat, 2017). It involves putting questions, ideas and observations on the main focus of the learning experience rather than the educator telling students about everything they need to know. Children have the capacity to catch things faster and thus, it is the best method for them to make them learn things at an early stage.

As a practitioner, it is important for me to conduct some of the activities that enable children's peer interactions. Some of the activities include open discussions, some group activities, and many other tasks which make the children interact with each other. Such sorts of activities will help to enhance the free flow of children and help them to move freely inside and outside of the premises.

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Aims

To analyse what enables the children to be involved in peer interaction during the course of free-flow play.

As a learner, I have analysed that activities in the classroom along with posing a number of questions which is a part of active learning help the students to engage in peer interactions.  is an effective way of learning as it engages students in developing their critical thinking and it helps them to engage in asking questions and discussing ideas with their fellow classmates. It gives the opportunity to students to nurture their talents and passions.

There were certain limitations in my inquiry such as a lack of discipline in the classroom. As a learner, it was difficult to engage students who were introvert and had issues speaking out in public.

Context

The small-scale investigation was set up in a classroom with all necessary assessment tools which were needed to conduct inquiry-based learning for children. Different topics were available for students so that they could be able to select a topic of their interest. Questionnaires and scenarios related to the chosen topic were made to build the interest of students in the learning process. The questions which could be asked to the children are given as follows:

• What you are going to learn today?
• What will I create?
• What are your interests regarding the particular topic I am going to teach?
• What was the best part of the day?
• How much have you enjoyed the session?
• What are your hobbies?

Thus, such kinds of questions will help me to know the interests of children as it will engage them in learning actively and smartly and help them to socialize with other classmates. The sample size of the study was almost 50 children within the age group of 10-12 years of age. The setting was indoors and the whole investigation was conducted in a well-managed classroom. It is important to create a spirit in the classroom so that students could be encourage for asking doubts and show some curiosity towards learning (Hannan, Duhs and Chatterjee, 2016). Activities were conducted between classmates which helped them to build self-confidence and to develop communication skills. At the end of the session, I as a learner allocated time for students to ask them to write something they have found interesting during the whole learning process to know what they have actually learned. It could be referred to as an ''exit ticket''. Digital assessment tools like online space were used to teach students for effective inquiry-based learning. Objects related to topics were brought into the classroom so that it would be beneficial for students to understand better and in a practical manner. Video clips, models and different case studies were used to teach students and ask them if they are getting any picture of what is going to be learned today.

Ethical statement

It has been conveyed to the students that confidentiality and privacy regarding data protection will be maintained during the investigation so that students would not hesitate to share any real-world experiences (Groundwater-Smith, 2016). Also, it helped me to develop a healthier relationship with students and helped me to gain their trust.

Literature Review

Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory focus on the development of the thought processes of children. It explains how children build a mental model of the world in their minds. This theory helps to evaluate how a child can count, spell or solve problems. (Peace, 2012). It explains how a child could be developed into an individual who could be able to think using a hypothesis. Piaget's thoughts have influenced a large scale on children's peer interactions,  regarding the thinking process of children about the social world, social behaviours and the level of their relationships (Huijuan, Zhenyang and Tengfei, 2017). He has proposed that matter of respect, equality and reciprocity is developed into different peer experiences.

Pedagogical perspectives of inquiry-based learning are based on a set of learning and teaching strategies which involve research and investigation of students which encourage critical thought processes, collaboration and discussion.

According to a writer named Carroll inquiry-based learning as an understanding of children's learning process and interactions which helps them to seek out knowledge and showcase their abilities.  During inquiry-based learning, the educator becomes a co-educator by working with students to investigate a particular topic and guiding students with the help of their inquiry. Different perspectives for inquiry-based learning involve:

• Peer culture: It is a set of activities, values, concerns and routines that is produced by children and shared among peers. Peer culture is important as it helps to develop a healthy relationship between classmates and develop critical thinking in children.
• Outdoor play: It is an effective practice for children as well as teachers to conduct inquiry-based learning (Chatterjee, Hannan and Thomson, 2016). The students will get to learn around different playing equipment and objects in the playground, Whereas, it will be beneficial for teachers if children are taking learning so sportingly.
• Risk-taking: As an educator, it would be beneficial to take risks at a certain point in time while delivering knowledge and facts to the children. They should develop some interesting activities and strategies that could nullify risk factors which are causing any hurdles in the learning process of children.
• Mealtimes:  There should be breaks at small intervals during the whole process of inquiry-based learning so that children would not feel sleepy or lazy. Meal times are important to keep them active during the sessions and for their better understanding to keep their minds alert.

However, it can be considered that inquiry-based learning is proven to be the best method for learning for both students and teachers. From the perspective of a teacher, this practice of learning helps them to build the interest of children during sessions and they could deliver their knowledge effectively to the students. For children, the process is effective as it engage them in various interesting activities and helps them to build effective communication skills. Peer interactions during sessions allow students to showcase their talents and passions and help them build self-confidence (Nallen, 2016). It is totally different from traditional teaching methods where educators used to deliver their facts and knowledge directly to the students without any prior investigation and learning process. The investigation in inquiry-based learning involves creating scenarios, posing questions and solving problems in a practical way by using different case studies, models or digital assessment tools.

Proposing Methodology

Enquiry-based learning is a way of study which expresses the role of students in the learning procedure. Instead of the teacher telling the role of students what they want to know, scholarly people are pleased to look into things, share thoughts and communicate their questions.

The benefits of enquiry bass learning are Enhances learning experiences for children, Fosters excitement in Students, Teaches skills needed for all areas of learning, and allows students to take ownership of their learning.

This learning uses various concepts, it considers guided and small group discussion, Rather than memorizing material or facts learned by students what they doing, this investigation grows knowledge through discussion, exploration, and experience (Hui and et. al., 2016).

There are three types of learning enquiry to solving moral problems Conceptual inquiry, factual or descriptive inquiry, and Normative inquiry. According to the case study as I am a researcher and the position is small scale investigator, I would like to choose these three methods to teach students.

In conceptual-based enquiry, I will teach by this method, to method instruct big ideas to motivate them instead of a subject theory content because by chapter theory method children will not understand properly they need some practical and some friendly or in story type teaching, this teaching takes in Real World so that they will learn or remember easily and gain more knowledge or skills.

In conceptual learning-based inquiry, I would also use web-learn material for teaching. Web learning is the Virtual Learning Environment where learner search their study material and sources like, reading materials, discussion forums, quizzes, Online submission tools, and lecture notes so that students can learn easily and smartly. The paper presents this carving approach, which captures the modelling of learners, personalisation of courses, model of courses and the management data in a web-learn system.

Proposing Methods

There are two types of data that is primary data and secondary data for collection methods in enquiry-based learning, would like to choose Primary data collection, it is divided into two groups quantitative and qualitative.

The quantitative data collection method is supported by mathematical procedures in different information including questionnaires along with closed-ended questions, methods of regression, correlation, mean, mode, median and some others. On the other hand Quantitative data collection method is based on contrary, not related numbers or mathematical calculations (Mason, 2017). It is closely linked with sounds, feelings, emotions, colours and other elements which are non-quantitative.

A range of data was collected from a range of viewpoints, collected some data by students and know about their views and perceptions of learning method that which idea of study like and learn quickly and easily. An early teaching concept is a tool which is used to assemble and provide educators, families and parents with crucial information for child development growth, But educators do for scholars that they inspire, reading a feeling for languages which could make fun, enjoy and some boring lessons into entertainment.

The views of students teachers, and educator teach by many methods that are verbal, nonverbal, story making, theoretical by books, sound, feelings, web-learner, teach in the real world, through e-books.

To these concepts, the web learning method is more effective and enquiry learning is also effective children my learn quickly and easily and they engage in learning activities in the classroom by web learning they get better at designing lessons that really busy them as well as the job of educator is not entertain students but some method of deliver concept by story making type they received quickly and understand promptly. A researcher collects data from students to take their views on the website and in the classroom that which type of teaching they like. My observations are that enquiry-based learners have been inducted with educational researchers and professional persons for a long time, it is a bright teaching-learning method which makes learning more significant or conducive to a higher order of thinking and activist knowledge structure.

Reflective practice is a paper that involves career progress in children's improvement through enquiry-based learning, it can modify the skills and knowledge or educators and students. They provide to engage more in reflective practice and get more experienced web learners. Enquiry supported method pleased to look every information which is applicable to defining trouble.

Proposing Data Analysis

The aim of data analysis on inquiry-based learning is to solve the specified problems. They are used to improve the student's performance and help teachers in adaptive teaching plan of action for students. The use of data analysis, helps the students to increase their performance of students. They help to evaluate the body language and learning abilities of children. The phases of inquiry-based learning include finding and sorting out, Framing questions, tuning with students thinking.

The data is being analysed on the basis of debates which revolve around appropriate questions and theoretical perspectives. It would be presented according to the test performed on children with the pedagogically perspective (Baldwin, 2016). The data analysis involves teachers to present the data. The data would be presented using statistical models, virtual interviews, logistic regression and a judging panel.   

Inquiry-based learning is linked with the pedagogical and theoretical perspective that is used to develop new technologies. This technology has a fundamental influence on study programmes and also on inquiry. This program enhances the learning experiences by memorizing the students themselves. The pedagogy perspective is to construct the environment with comfort using inquiry-based strategies in children's classrooms. There are many activities designed by teachers to enhance the learning of children. 

Wider Ethical Considerations

In inquiry-based learning, some ethical issues may develop. These issues are failure to develop new knowledge and critical thinking skills. The educators and researchers have the responsibility towards their learners to benefit them but to take care of all types of precautions during research so that no child can be harmed emotionally. Sometimes, researchers fail to develop new skills and knowledge. This results the problems in child development in their education sector as they are unable to understand the information. When the research involves teachers and children, some ethical concerns may arise and the duty is to cause no harm to children. The ethical issues include some of the activities in which students are not willing to take part and issues regarding research may arise. Ethical issues may be developed from the gap between the researcher and the learners (Dolan, 2016). The heavier load of enquiry-based learning can cause issues in research. The research should be equity and fair among small-scale investigations. The consideration of ethical questions may develop problems facing students in teaching and learning.

From this small-scale investigation, the scholars as well as teachers are benefited. By this, teachers can begin many activities for their brains through intellectual input. Through this, students can develop communication skills, can build their critical thinking. They help students to build curiosity about any activity and to gain a deeper understanding of content. This investigation engages students by letting students explore content on their own level of thinking.  The development is synthesized through self-direction. Teachers are also able to understand the student perspective regarding the way of their learning and understanding. By their research follow activities students are able to adapt to their individual needs. They use open-question strategies which encourage student to utilize their own method of style.           

CONCLUSION

The above study has summarised that enquiry-based learning is much more effective in making learning children easy and creative. It is helpful for them to grab different concepts as it is innovative which is helpful to easily learn fresh education aspects without putting additional effort into children in early childhood.

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