Inquiry-based approach : reconstructing the undergraduate teaching and learning space

Abstract

Student completion is a concern in public universities in South Africa and elsewhere. Poor approach to teaching and learning is one of the known causes of the foregoing challenge, yet, it has hardly received attention. Research on the inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning has often focused on its application in science and maths education, but the approach is equally well-suited to the teaching of the humanities. In this conceptual paper, I argue that in as much as universities place much value on components of research skills, so they should on student teachers’ knowledge construction and understanding of content. Based on the responses to the three questions that I set as I entered the teaching and learning field, I seek to shed light on how the inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning has changed the perceptions of student teachers and the teacher educator about schooling in higher education. In so doing, I share my undergraduate teaching experience hence I recommend the guideline principles that I followed throughout this process.1