How to Use Observations to Inspire Inquiry-Based Learning Experiences

Experiential learning is student-centered. The child learns from experiences that are personalized, hands-on, meaningful to the child, and student-led. They construct meaning through exploration of their own passions and ideas. Inquiry is a great experiential learning activity that hits these points.

Questions steer inquiry-based learning experiences. For example, a testable question is needed for a scientific open-inquiry experiment, a driving question is a catalyst for project-based learning experiences, and so on. But developing a good driving question starts with observations. Look back at this post to learn more about great inquiry-based learning experiences such as project-based learning.

Making observations seems like a fairly straight forward concept. "What do you observe?", right? But children need a little scaffolding and direction. There are ways to set the stage for successful observation-making, which ultimately motivates driving questions that students care about (next weeks post will be about asking questions for inquiry-based learning experiences). 

If you're looking for ways to get students making detailed observations that lead to inquiry learning experiences, then you've come to the right place.

Click here for inquiry resources + my latest resource on student-led experimental design.

Making Observations that Lead to Inquiry-Based Learning Experiences

Practice Making Detailed Observations Using Senses

You could simply say, "Okay, take a look around. What do you notice? What do you see?" That's great, and might work for a minute. But kids tend to focus on the obvious at first.
"I see walls", for example. 

Okay, what do the walls look like? What colors are the walls? Are they tall or short? Are they all the same length? Are there windows? Is there anything on the walls? Does anything about the walls surprise you? Now feel the walls.  Describe the texture. Are there any inconsistencies in the texture? Are they hot or cold? Tap on the walls. What sound do you hear? Does the sound change when you tap on different spots?  

You get the point. It's easy to say "I see walls". Yes, your student is technically making an observation. But what question(s) could that lead to? Help them practice making detailed observations so that asking questions for future inquiry investigations becomes more fluid and natural. 

How to do this: 

• Have students choose an object and practice making detailed observations. Use my free guiding template.

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• You could also have students practice observing an event or phenomenon rather than an object using the same idea. I have a free resource library for subscribers that currently includes an observation scaffolding activity. Students watch a video of a science phenomenon and practice making observations using the questions available to them.

Scaffold and Facilitate

A huge part of teaching students how to make observations is to be there to support the process. The job of an experiential educator, and therefore, facilitator of inquiry-based learning experiences, is not to tell students what to observe, but to help them develop the skills to make these discoveries on their own.  

How to do this: 

• Answer students' questions with more questions - What do you notice? Why did you notice that thing? What was the trigger? What do you wonder? How could you find out? If you did this to this object, what do you think would happen? Encourage deeper thinking. Check out this post that includes a laundry list of questions for scaffolding inquiry-based learning experiences. 

Set the Stage

Ideally you would spark observations by setting up a stimulating environment. Sure kids could observe their school walls, but there are much more interesting ways to engage learners in making observations. 

How to do this: 

• Bring students outside - The outdoors is so much more dynamic than sitting at a desk. There is a lot to see from weather patterns, to human behaviors, to natural landscapes, to ecological phenomena, and the list goes on. Take them to a park if you're able, into the schoolyard or backyard, or simply out on the sidewalk in a bustling city to make detailed observations.

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• Bring in a community expert or speaker - Sometimes others have resources to stimulate learners that you simply do not have access to. I had the neurology department from a local university bring in their human brain for students to make observations about. They developed questions from their observations that then turned into their driving question for student-directed project-based learning experiences on neurology.

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• Cruise the internet - I hate to say this, but in an era of distance learning, it is an option, and not an entirely bad one. Students can make observations about what they read and see from documentaries to TED Talks to scientific publications. I have a free resource that guides students through this experience (project topic brainstorming activities). The idea is to help students determine project topics through immersion and observation. 

Check out these other posts on inquiry-based learning from Experiential Learning Depot, as well. 
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Where do you struggle with inquiry-based learning? What holds you back, prevents you from doing more, or presents the biggest challenge? 

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