Here is one example, of many, where Hattie denigrates Inquiry Based Teaching.
Dr Mandy Lupton analyses the research that Hattie used in detail here. She finds many of the same problems already mentioned - the use of the same data across different meta-analyses thus skewing the average, the use of non-school students (adults and university students) and the use of very old studies with different definitions of what Inquiry is.
Lupton concludes,
"the set of studies are old and are not likely to reflect contemporary classroom practice. Also, they all report on science curriculum, in particular most of the studies compare traditional fact-based, textbook based teaching with experiential, experimental laboratory approaches. There is no indication that these results are relevant in any other subject area such as history, geography or mathematics, or indeed in a contemporary science classroom."Apples vs Oranges
"It’s hard to see that any useful conclusions to improve teaching and learning can be drawn from Hattie’s analysis. And it’s alarming that school administrators are using Hattie’s research to dismiss inquiry approaches out of hand."
So once again Hattie combines studies that are measuring totally different things to get one effect size.
Examples of the wide range of styles that are under the broad umbrella of "Inquiry" (from Trevor Mackenzie) are:
Relatedly, Terry Wrigley (2018) in The power of ‘evidence’: Reliable science or a set of blunt tools? also discusses the problem of research into 'project-based learning',
"This problem of agency is well illustrated by a recent attempt to evaluate project-based learning within the required norms of EEF funding (EEF, 2016). This trial involved 12 intervention and 12 control schools, altogether around 4,000 Year 7 students, occupying 25–50% of the timetable for almost a year. The high dropout rate (nearly half the intervention schools) suggests a problem in convincing teachers and also perhaps students. This raises the question of whether pedagogies requiring a strong professional commitment can be evaluated through such a trial, especially when they break from the tightly controlled pedagogies which have become the norm in a high-stakes accountability regime. More broadly, we are faced with a paradox which puts the entire RCT methodology in doubt as far as education is concerned: human volition is both necessary and a contaminator. The question of agency and pedagogical intention is inescapable, and will be discussed later through the lens of critical realism" (p. 365).Wrigley then goes onto discussing inappropriate averaging of disparate studies,
"Hattie comes close to a similar problem in his clear preference for ‘direct instruction’ over inquiry-type methods. However, provided one reads his words closely, he is actually referring to a specific model of ‘direct instruction’ (from Adams & Engelmann, 1996) rather than general notions of didactic teaching, teaching from the front or rote learning. This model involves not only clear presentation but a sequence of learner engagement, modelling, guided practice, monitoring and independent practice/ transfer (Hattie, 2009: 205–206). Although he states (208–212) that inquiry methods and problem-based learning are less efficient for learning facts and concepts, he agrees that they are better for longer-term recall, understanding the principles that link concepts together, engaging students, applying knowledge, solving problems, critical thinking and scientific process.
Unfortunately, the dials which decorate these pages can be extremely misleading, since they do not reflect such differences of purpose; the simple meta-analytic averaging of mean effect sizes could easily seduce teachers into discarding inquiry methods" (p. 368).Georgios Zonnios has written one of the most insightful analogies which clearly demonstrates the problem with our research based methods on problem/inquiry/discovery learning,
"Decades of research has led many educators to believe that, in general, people learn more effectively through explicit instruction than self-driven discovery. However, this research has consistently lacked clarity on fundamentals and skewed its definitions to fit school systems, rather than fitting the broader goal of enhancing learning." See Full analogy here.Richard Olsen also details an analysis of the studies Hattie used in What can Visible Learning effect sizes tell us about inquiry-based learning? Nothing.
Robert Stevens writes another great article, In defence of inquiry-based pedagogies. Stevens uses a useful analogy,
"If we see pedagogies as tools for learning, this claim is on a par with the assertion that a hammer is less effective and efficient than a screwdriver. In response to this claim, we might ask ‘for what?’ For driving in nails, a hammer is better. For adjusting screws, a screwdriver is better. So, for what is strongly guided instruction better?"
Tom wrestles with the difference between Explicit Instruction and Discovery Based Learning (DBL) here. He describes my 30-year experience with Year 10, 11, and 12 Maths,
"Given constraints of contact time we typically cannot include more than the occasional instance of DBL in our teaching. Is it worth the effort? On a granular level, students find the idea that they or Betty found is more memorable than just another from the teacher. More generally, they may begin to see mathematics in a new light, as a living communal activity. From my viewpoint there is a lift in the esprit de classe, that intangible feeling that makes class teaching so pleasurable."
Cognitive Load Theory vs Inquiry/Problem Based Learning:
Cognitive Load Theory also questions the usefulness of Inquiry & Problem based learning (IBL, PBL). The claim being IBL and PBL place too great a cognitive load on students as their working memory is small.
The aspect of CLT research that directly got my attention was the narrow definition of schooling -
A clear explanation is by Daniel Willingham, a key researcher and adviser to the Evidence Organisation, Deans for Impact in his influential book "Why Don't Students Like School".
Willingham says there is "a big gap between research and practice" and influences "cannot be separated in the classroom" as "they often interact in difficult-to-predict ways." He provides the following example,
Sammy Kemper on Inquiry & Group Work - another challenge to CLT
Tytler & Prain (2021)
Cognitive Load Theory also questions the usefulness of Inquiry & Problem based learning (IBL, PBL). The claim being IBL and PBL place too great a cognitive load on students as their working memory is small.
The aspect of CLT research that directly got my attention was the narrow definition of schooling -
"an increase in long term memory"Whilst CLT is useful, surely schooling is much more than just increasing student's long term memory!
A clear explanation is by Daniel Willingham, a key researcher and adviser to the Evidence Organisation, Deans for Impact in his influential book "Why Don't Students Like School".
Willingham says there is "a big gap between research and practice" and influences "cannot be separated in the classroom" as "they often interact in difficult-to-predict ways." He provides the following example,
"... laboratory studies show that repetition helps learning, but any teacher knows that you can’t take that finding and pop it into a classroom by, for example, having students repeat long-division problems until they’ve mastered the process.
Repetition is good for learning but terrible for motivation. With too much repetition, motivation plummets, students stop trying, and no learning takes place. The classroom application would not duplicate the laboratory result." (from the introduction).
Dr. Christian Bokhove provides some pause on the CLT studies, by showing that the studies do not measure motivation nor engagement.
Bokhove also challenges the general and sweeping claims, e.g., Sweller -
Michael Pershan gives a great summary of CLT here, showing aspects of CLT support IBL - the "Expert Reversal" effect. Pershan summarises,
"Kalyuga showed that the entirety of CLT research had only considered the learning needs of novices, who were new to the material. Once a learner got past a certain degree of knowledge, however, these load-reducing techniques often became counter-productive. Worked examples worked great for novices, but once enough knowledge had accrued they were no longer as helpful – problem solving led to greater gains for these participants."
CLT is still developing, e.g., Embodied Cognition
CLT has added the notion of Embodied Cognition, meaning physical movements can reduce cognitive load & and improve learning.
There is a huge overlap of activities used in IBL & PBL which meet this definition of Embodied Cognition.
Sweller, Merriënboer & Paas (2019) summarise,
"From the research, it is clear that motor information may constitute an additional modality that can also occupy WM’s limited resources. As it seems difficult to firmly reconcile the cognitive effects of human movement with the working memory model adopted by cognitive load theory, it can be argued that human movement may constitute an additional modality that should be considered within existing WM models...In the 1998 article, no mention was made whatsoever of evolutionary psychology, working memory resource depletion or embodied cognition, yet, these ideas turned out to be crucial for the further development of the theory. So, let us not try to predict the future but create it by continuing to do good research."
Eddie Woo & Greg Ashman
Australian of the year & maths teacher Eddie Woo, shares the stage with Ashman (with Sweller in the audience) & presents an Inquiry based start to his demonstration maths lesson - here.
Ollie Lovell, who has also written a great book on CLT, defends Inquiry Based teaching on his podcast after a visiting a teacher who used the inquiry approach. Lovell says they were the BEST lessons I have EVER seen! Podcast here @ 2:24:50
Inquiry Based Video Essay - a Challenge to CLT
Melbourne teacher Travis Mckenzie give a great example of the success of his video essay technique with students-
Empowered Learning: Teaching the video essay in the secondary school environment from Travis McKenzie on Vimeo.
Sammy is Maths teacher at The Totteridge Academy in London. The School has improved their maths scores in standardised tests from the bottom 25 percentile to the top 2 percentile - a phenomenal improvement.
Sammy outlines in detail the School's approach in an interview with Ollie Lovel here - https://www.ollielovell.com/errr/sammykempner/
Some notable explanations -
0:54:50 - teaching equations starting with an inquiry type approach.
1:27:00 - Group work.
Mckinsey & Company (2022).
Did an analysis of PISA and found:
"Students who receive a blend of teacher-directed and inquiry-based instruction achieve the best outcomes." (p. 7)
They summarise their findings (p. 8) -
Summarise the arguments and evidence well in There is a strong case for inquiry learning in maths and science.
Naomi Fisher
"...the way in which learning has been defined in the studies which ‘evidence based education’ draw from. Essentially, as remembering a curriculum. Remembering it well enough so you can repeat it in the test. That’s not how developmental psychologists think about learning. It’s a far wider process than remembering information which has been told to you. It’s about making connections and seeking meaning. It’s about interrogating the world around you. It’s about developing into a person who sees themselves as someone who can seek out information, who can have an effect on the world and who has value. It’s about the process of learning as much as the content." (Fisher, 2023)
Schooling is More than Memorisation
There are many examples of prominent people referring to the challenge of deep, complex and meaningful questions that engage them for the rest of their lives, e.g.,
"What Is Art Robert?
"What Is Art Robert?
I've just read the biography of the great Australian Art historian, Robert Hughes.
Hughes describes being taken to a Sydney Art gallery as a teenager. His teacher noticed that Hughes scoffed at an impressionist painting and Hughes exclaimed this is not Art!
The teacher retorted, "then what is Art Robert?"
Hughes writes that that one question drove him to try to discover what Art is, for the rest of his life!
What Is Inertia Dad?
Richard Feynman credits this simple question that he asked his father as a young boy, as a key moment in his life.
Adam Savage presents Feynman's story here.
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