Is Inquiry Based Learning the Panacea for our Education System?
A recent article has highlighted the concern some parents have about the inquiry teaching model implemented by Hobsonville Point Secondary School . Rangitoto College principal David Hodge said he received applications from parents who wanted their children moved from Hobsonville Point School. Parents "believed that the style of education that the child was receiving at their current school completely disadvantaged their child in terms of academic progress" So are newer teaching methods like the inquiry based model implemented at HPSS inferior to the older teaching methods they are replacing? William Reville has highlighted a 30% difference between summative assessment examination scores in China, where whole-class teaching is employed, and those where student-centered methods are used. His article referred to a 2006 article which critiqued the effectiveness of the constructivist, discovery based inquiry teaching method. The authors characterize inquiry-