Children’s learning is a complex and fascinating process beyond merely acquiring knowledge.
Among the most effective approaches are inquiry-based and play-based learning, which blend exploration and play to create meaningful learning experiences.
This article will explore this transformative methodology’s concept, functioning, benefits, and practical examples.
What are inquiry-based and play-based learning?
Inquiry-based and play-based learning are pedagogical approaches that center the child in the learning process.
This methodology values learners’ natural curiosity, encouraging them to ask questions, seek answers, and actively experience the world around them.
Play acts as a catalyst, making the discovery process more enjoyable and meaningful. In this way, while investigation promotes the development of critical thinking, play creates a safe environment for exploration and experimentation.
This combination effectively engages learners and strengthens essential skills such as creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration.
How do inquiry- and play-based learning function?
In inquiry-based and play-based learning, the teacher acts as a mediator, guiding while allowing learners to take the lead in their discoveries.
The process usually involves four main steps:
- Asking: learners are encouraged to ask about subjects that inspire their interest.
- Investigate: Through hands-on and exploratory activities, learners look for answers to their questions.
- Sharing: learners present their findings in groups, promoting the exchange of ideas and perspectives.
- Reflecting: learners analyze their newfound knowledge, make connections, and pose new questions.
For example, children can explore the water cycle through a hands-on experience that involves simulations and games. In addition to learning scientific concepts, they develop interpersonal and logical thinking skills.
How are inquiry-based and play-based learning implemented?
Implementing this methodology requires planning and a learning environment that encourages curiosity. Some practical strategies include:
- Interactive spaces: Classrooms are organized to facilitate access to diverse materials, such as books, craft tools, and digital resources, as well as microscopes, cameras, and magnifying lenses.
- Intentionally selected materials: The materials used are aligned with curricular content to promote new learning connections.
- Collaborative projects: Group work that encourages the exchange of ideas and the joint construction of knowledge.
At St. Nicholas, this approach is enriched through practices that foster inquiry and autonomy. The environment is carefully designed so that children feel safe and motivated to explore and learn.
Five Benefits of Inquiry-Based and Play-Based Learning
Adopting this methodology offers countless benefits for the overall development of children. See how it transforms learning:
- Creativity in Action
Solving problems playfully challenges learners to think of new possibilities and find creative and innovative solutions. - Strengthening social skills
Participating in games and investigations in groups encourages empathy, improves communication, and teaches the importance of collaboration. - Developing critical thinking
Research encourages children to analyze information, create hypotheses, and seek informed solutions, making them more reflective. - Lasting emotional engagement
When learning is fun, it becomes engaging. Play increases motivation and helps children connect with knowledge more naturally. - Autonomy and trust
Being the protagonist of their discoveries strengthens learners’ self-confidence and helps them develop independence.
At St. Nicholas, the learner-centered educational approach promotes active, meaningful learning aligned with the skills and competencies essential for their integral development.
Examples of Inquiry-Based Learning and Play
To understand how inquiry-based learning and play can transform education, let’s look at examples that illustrate their practical application in the classroom.
These experiences, in addition to engaging learners, are designed to develop fundamental skills meaningfully and naturally.
Hands-On Science Exploration
In Science, investigative learning stands out with practical activities such as creating a terrarium. learners build their mini-ecosystem using soil, rocks, plants, and water, recording observations over time on phenomena such as condensation and plant growth.
This process awakens children’s natural curiosity, leading them to formulate hypotheses and develop critical thinking. In addition to exploring natural cycles, such as water cycles and the role of plants in balancing ecosystems, learners experience knowledge practically and engagingly.
This approach makes abstract concepts more accessible and strengthens essential skills such as observation, analysis, and teamwork, promoting a collaborative and stimulating environment.
Creating a country
In St. Nicholas School’s Primary Years Programme (PYP), transdisciplinary learning comes to life through hands-on, engaging activities. In Social Sciences, for example, learners explore the workings of a nation through units of inquiry. As part of this experience, they create their own ‘country’, defining its rules, laws, flag, language, and currency.
This approach moves beyond rote memorization, engaging learners in hands-on activities that create meaningful learning experiences. The activity encourages critical thinking, teamwork, and social and emotional development while improving communication skills and deepening academic knowledge. This hands-on learning model makes concepts more accessible and relevant to children, encouraging curiosity and autonomy in the educational process.
Discovering the universe we are part of
Often seen as challenging, Mathematics becomes more engaging when learners discover it is part of their daily lives.
Numbers are everywhere, and everything around us has been thought of and calculated. To spark children’s interest and help them perceive the presence of Mathematics, we use unstructured materials, such as wooden blocks of different colors and sizes.
By building with these materials, learners explore concepts as addition, subtraction, weight, balance, and symmetry while developing their aesthetic sense, spatial organization, and logical reasoning.
During play, they reinforce mathematical knowledge and learn to solve problems in a fun and interactive way, making learning more natural, dynamic, and enjoyable.
The power of communication
Communication is an essential skill for human beings and is key to literacy development. From an early age, learners begin to realize the importance of graphic language as they feel the need to communicate with their peers. In spaces dedicated to writing messages, they explore their creativity and formulate their first hypotheses about writing, exchanging messages with each other and with their teachers.
This process also involves families, who receive messages full of affection, creativity, and learning. Over time, children improve their language skills and produce more complete and structured texts. In this way, learning happens naturally and enjoyably, encouraging investigation, linguistic comprehension, and writing development in a meaningful way.
Outdoor Learning: Connecting with the World
At St. Nicholas, learning goes beyond the classroom, integrating indoor and outdoor environments in a connected and organic way. By exploring natural spaces, learners discover more about themselves and the world around them, seeking answers to their questions in places that make sense for their research.
By investigating phenomena such as day and night, the Sun, Moon, and stars, our learners observe the sky and hypothesize why they cannot see them all at once. To enrich this experience, they use mirrors, drawings, light, and transparencies, making learning more interactive and investigative.
This teaching model, adopted at St. Nicholas, promotes engaging and meaningful learning, stimulating observation, reflection, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. With an approach based on investigation and experimentation, learners become protagonists of their development, exploring knowledge in a natural and stimulating way.
Conclusion
Inquiry-based and play-based learning transform education into an active and meaningful experience, fostering lifelong skills.
At St. Nicholas, this approach is enhanced by local and international practices that promote holistic learning for learners.
Schedule a visit today and discover how St. Nicholas prepares learners for the future with an excellent, innovative, and learner-centered education.
