Professor Bertram (Chip) Bruce, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Inquiry-Based Learning

The essence of inquiry-based learning is the realization that learning is inseparable from life. When learning activities are divorced from ordinary experience, fragmented into short blocks of time, and framed within narrowly-defined disciplines, the learner is unlikely to engage, remember, or apply the knowledge supposedly conveyed. But there are institutional pressures and practical challenges that constrain learning in exactly those ways. How can we provide learning opportunities that are connected to the learner's needs and interests, relevant to life both within and beyond schoooling, challenging and engaging? How can we conceive disciplines in a way that enlarges learning rather than limits it? How can we make the best use of texts, multimedia, computers, field experiences, dialogues, and all the other media for learning? This presentation explores these questions, all within a larger framework that considers the relation of schooling to the larger society.