Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning in Primary STEM

Abstract

This chapter describes the evolution of an inquiry-based activity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Ball of Fear, that was developed and used in a primary classroom setting and then further developed as an inquiry-based activity in a first-year university context with pre-service teachers enrolled in a science content unit. Inquiry-based teaching and learning in primary STEM is well aligned with modern learning theory, allowing an in-depth exploration of the nature, principles and concepts of STEM disciplines. Because cooperative groups ranging from two to five members are prevalent in primary STEM and ‘almost all inquiry-learning approaches make use of group work’, the chapter highlights cooperative inquiry-based teaching and learning in primary STEM. High-level interactions among the students in the cooperative groups occurred without explicitly teaching inquiry or cooperative skills, which supports the rationale for including inquiry-based activities in primary STEM.