What Is Research Learning?
For a student to learn, it is not enough for him to memorize concepts. It is also necessary that his interest in a problem is aroused and that he feels motivated to seek solutions and answers. In the context of learning through research, surprise and discovery of ideas are the triggers for exploration, analysis and reflection on knowledge.
Curiosity and research, the foundations of research learning
Learning by inquiry is a teaching-learning approach through which the teacher helps students find solutions to educational problems. Thus, learning through research aims to motivate students to participate, in an active and collaborative way, in a research process.
In this process, questions must be asked, initiating an active path of observation, collection and analysis of information, as well as a bibliographic and empirical search, so that it is possible to interpret the data and reach conclusions based on different hypotheses and assumptions related to a initial problem.
Therefore, it is interesting what the study La inquiry: an innovative strategy for the learning of research processes proposes ( Research: an innovative strategy for the learning of research processes, in free translation).
In it, it is stated that research-based teaching helps students to establish relationships between the theoretical and the empirical in a simpler way and to recognize the theory that underlies practical knowledge.
Therefore, the pillars of learning through research are constant curiosity and co-research carried out between teacher-student and student-student. And, as Patricia Escalante Arauz points out in an article, research learning consists of “a process that takes place in a physical, intellectual and social learning environment” .
Main advantages of learning through research
- Motivates and awakens interest and curiosity for knowledge.
- It encourages and develops cooperative and collaborative learning as well as co-research.
- Empowers systematic thinking.
- Sharpen observation and memory.
- Promotes the active participation of students in the acquisition of knowledge.
- Develops critical thinking and analytical skills.
- Stimulates creativity to justify, argue and refute concepts and ideas.
- It encourages the use of technological resources that assist in the visualization, collection, analysis and storage of information and knowledge.
The importance of essential research questions
It is necessary to emphasize that, for teaching by investigation to be really meaningful, the teaching proposal plays a fundamental role. In other words, how the educator raises the initial problem that students should research is very important.
In this sense, for the investigation to be effective, it is necessary to start with essential questions and not simple questions, as the latter, as Patricia Escalante Arauz also suggests, are “an open window for understanding”.
The author maintains that it is not the same to ask a simple question based on a fact, such as: “What is Renaissance art?”, than to establish an essential question such as: “How art reflects or changes culture ?”
Certainly, a substantial question does not have a single answer and therefore it prompts and stimulates research and investigation to understand its answer. It is the research process itself that leads students to participation, dialogue, debate and the integration of disciplines or subjects to find solutions.
Learning through research and the role of technology
The incorporation of technology can significantly contribute to the development of research learning. Internet, infinite websites, applications and platforms of different types allow the research, in an investigation process, to be much broader, more complex and more detailed.
Thanks to technology, students have access to a multitude of content and information. In addition, they can also access different ways to view, organize and store information. And that’s not all, because the technology also allows children to work remotely, but at the same time, collaboratively.
Therefore, learning by inquiry, together with the technological resources that we currently have, is something very effective and powerful. Technology opens up a universe of infinite possibilities for students to explore and discover knowledge.
As mentioned at the beginning, research is a state of mind characterized by curiosity and inquiry. Searching is looking for truth, information or knowledge. Therefore, research-based learning is never passive learning, but teaching based on an active process in which both the student and the teacher participate.
Thus, a postulate to which many of the studies and researches that talk about learning through inquiry refer: “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I will learn”. Certainly, this postulate defines the essence of learning by inquiry
