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Article IV
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Inquiry-based methods have evolved from cognitive (Piaget, 1977) and socio-constructivist 
(Vygotsky, 1978) learning theories. Inquiry is a student-centred approach, which has been 
used in Finnish science teaching since the 1960s (Aksela, 2005). The definition is vague. 
Abraham & Pavelich (1999, 2) provided the following definition: 
”[...] every student can 
work at their suitable level and do even a small research. The students are let to define their 
own research questions and problems, plan their own experiments, analyses and explanations 
from the data.” 
Words such as authentic, project-based, active and resource-based research 
education are also used in defining inquiry-based teaching (Alberta Learning, 2004, 109). 
In practice, inquiry-based teaching may include elements of inductive learning, problem-
solving and hands-on experiments (Välisaari & Lundell, 2008). The focus is on encouraging 
the students to ask questions. Especially in open studies, the students’ own questions and 
interests are the starting point. Learning stems from the students’ own active role and 
willingness to look for answers to their own questions. Five typical features of practicing 
inquiry-based learning with students are (Aksela, 2005; Hodson, 2014; Kipnis & Hofstein, 
2008; Minner et al., 2010): 
i) designing, planning and asking questions, 
ii) performing and collecting data, 
iii) reflection to summarise results, and 
iv) reporting and discussing conclusions. 
This practice is not linear. The students may return and change their research questions based 
on the information they find (Alberta Learning, 2004, 9). They may complete a project, 
discuss the issues, make reports and presentations or hold a debate (Millar, 2004; Näsäkkälä 
et al., 2001; Palmer, 2009). A study may focus on the nearby environment (Mikkola, 2012), 
stalactites (Keys & Bryan, 2001) or food chemistry (Palmer, 2009), for instance. 
Inquiry-based education can be applied at all school levels (Alberta Learning, 2004, 9). The 
difficulty level is connected to the openness of the task. At a basic level, the research 
questions and methods are given to students so that they can perform an investigation. At an 
intermediate level, the research questions are still given to students, but now they have to 
decide on the study methods they intend to use to achieve the results. At an even more 
difficult level, the students have to form the research questions as well. (Blanchard et al., 
2010; Colburn, 2000) The different difficulty levels allow the teacher to choose a suitable 
level that best supports the students’ learning. Inquiry-based science education is possible for 
all students and actually especially supports the studying of lower achievers (Rocard et al., 
2007). 

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