On Inquiry Learning As An Idea Of Learning

It was not until the late nineties of the twentieth century that "Inquiry Learning" became a popular concept and began to draw people' s attention. In June, 2001, "Inquiry -Learning" first formally appeared in the Program of the Curricular Reform in the Basic Education issued by the Ministry of Education. It is of great importance to how to understand the concept if we hope that it can contribute to the developing basic education.First, this paper discusses the various definitions and the historical forms of learning and the improper inclinations in the students' learning when they are at school. Based on this, it puts forward a new theme that "Inquiry Learning " should be seen as a newly existing idea of learning.It is this paper' s mission to probe into the theoretical issues on Inquiry Learning. According to this paper, Inquiry Learning is such a mode of learning that is similar to scientific research in cognitive pattern and in mental process. It has at least two theoretical foundations, philosophical and psychological. The former includes such propositions as knowledge, activity, the validity of understanding and people' s subjectivity and the latter is offered with some of useful fruits of the contemporary learning researches, e. g. the meaningfulness and exploring inbeing of learning and its being an individual experience and etc. When "Inquiry Learning" is seen as an idea of learning, it should be superior to other orientations because that it has being in itselffor a long time and is a new time spirit for us when pondering the basic education.This paper firstly wants to make Inquiry Learning to put out roots and grow in the real soil of basic education by such ways: 1) to first follow out the idea of inquiry Learning in the classroom and; 2) to work out the PBL curriculum. Secondly, it discusses the respective characters of inquiry Learning according to the stages of education. It, of course, attaches importance to teaching-learning in classroom, pointing out that students are the masters in their own learning and what are the objects of Inquiry Learning are consisted of basic disciplines, developing ones and research ones and others. Furthermore, it is known to every one that there is no changeless mode of practice for Inquiry Learning as a learning idea.